2003 Belgian federal election

The 18 May 2003 Belgian federal elections were the first Belgian elections to be held under a new electoral code. One of the novelties was an electoral threshold of 5%, which has cost many seats to the N-VA and the Green parties, Ecolo and Agalev. The Belgian Socialists recovered well; the liberal and nationalist parties increased their vote as well.

2003 Belgium federal election

18 May 2003 (2003-05-18)
All 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 40 of 71 seats in the Senate respectively 76 and 36 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Guy Verhofstadt (Candidate for PM) Elio Di Rupo Antoine Duquesne Party VLD PS MR Leader since N/A 1999 2003 Leader's seat East Flanders Hainaut French-speaking electoral college (Senate) Last election 23 seats, 14.3% 19 seats, 10.22% 18 seats, 10.1% Seats before 23 19 18 Seats won 25 25 24 Seat change 2 6 6 Popular vote 1,009,223 855,992 748,954 Percentage 15.4% 13.02% 11.4% Swing 1.1% 2.8% 1.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Steve Stevaert Stefaan De Clerck Frank Vanhecke Party sp.a + Spirit CD&V VB Leader since 2003 2003 1996 Leader's seat Dutch-speaking electoral college (Senate) Dutch-speaking electoral college (Senate) Dutch-speaking electoral college (Senate) Last election 14 seats, 9.5% 22 seats, 14.3% 15 seats, 9.87% Seats before 14 22 15 Seats won 23 21 18 Seat change 9 1 3 Popular vote 979,750 870,749 767,605 Percentage 14.9% 13.3% 11.59% Swing 5.4% 0.84% 1.70%
Colours denote the winning party in each electoral district, as shown in the table of results.
Federal Government before election Verhovstadt I VLD-MR-PS-SP-Agalev-Ecolo Elected Federal Government Verhovstadt II VLD-MR-PS-sp.a-Spirit

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The Flemish Greens lost all their seats. The Greens were attacked on two fronts: some, including their coalition partners, accused them of being too fundamentalist, while others said that they had betrayed their ideals. The resignation of a Walloon green minister (Isabelle Durant), one week before the elections, probably didn't do them much good either. Although it was predicted in some opinion polls, the gains of the Front National were surprising, considering that it seldom appeared in the media. The most important trend was the recovery of the Flemish social-democrats, led by the popular (some would say populist) Steve Stevaert. The fact that Elio Di Rupo was learning Dutch caused rumours that he hoped to become Prime Minister, if the social-democrats would turn out to be the largest political family.

Themes that probably influenced the election results in some way or another were the government's opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the controversy around the nuisance around the airport of Zaventem, the controversy surrounding the banning of tobacco publicity, and unemployment, but a general dominating theme was lacking.