General elections were held in Belgium on 17 December 1978.[1][2] The Christian People's Party emerged as the largest party, with 57 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 29 of the 106 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 94.8%.[3] Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils and for the Council of the German Cultural Community.
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212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Seat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The snap elections were called after Prime Minister Leo Tindemans resigned over the Egmont pact, which would have transformed Belgium into a federal state. Vlaams Blok participated for the first time, which was formed out of disagreement within the People's Union over concessions in the Egmont pact.
Results
editChamber of Representatives
edit
The primary six Flemish political parties and their results for the House of Representatives (Kamer). From 1978 to 2014, in percentages for the complete 'Kingdom'.
 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Christian People's Party | 1,447,112 | 26.14 | 57 | +1 | |
| Belgian Socialist Party (Wallonia) | 689,876 | 12.46 | 31 | +31 | |
| Belgian Socialist Party (Flanders) | 684,976 | 12.37 | 26 | –1 | |
| Party for Freedom and Progress | 573,387 | 10.36 | 22 | +5 | |
| Christian Social Party | 560,440 | 10.12 | 25 | +1 | |
| People's Union | 388,762 | 7.02 | 14 | –6 | |
| Democratic Front of the Francophones | 259,019 | 4.68 | 11 | 0 | |
| Party of Reforms and Freedom of Wallonia | 256,685 | 4.64 | 15 | –1 | |
| Communist Party of Belgium | 180,234 | 3.26 | 4 | +4 | |
| Walloon Rally | 128,153 | 2.32 | 4 | 0 | |
| Vlaams Blok | 75,635 | 1.37 | 1 | New | |
| Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour | 48,616 | 0.88 | 1 | +1 | |
| All Power to the Workers | 43,483 | 0.79 | 0 | New | |
| Liberal Party (Wallonia) | 41,460 | 0.75 | 0 | New | |
| PRLW–Party for Reforms and Freedom | 31,280 | 0.57 | 0 | 0 | |
| Belgian Socialist Party (Luxembourg) | 30,222 | 0.55 | 1 | New | |
| Ecolo | 21,224 | 0.38 | 0 | 0 | |
| Walloon Liberal Party | 9,861 | 0.18 | 0 | New | |
| Party of German-speaking Belgians | 9,032 | 0.16 | 0 | 0 | |
| ECOLOG | 8,360 | 0.15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Revolutionary Workers' League (Flanders) | 6,383 | 0.12 | 0 | 0 | |
| Walloon Rally (Luxembourg) | 6,493 | 0.12 | 0 | New | |
| Agalev | 5,556 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ecology–Politics | 3,922 | 0.07 | 0 | New | |
| Liberal, Social and Democratic Party | 3,678 | 0.07 | 0 | New | |
| Belgian National Party | 3,465 | 0.06 | 0 | New | |
| Revolutionary Workers' League (Wallonia) | 2,597 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | |
| Francophone Liberal Party | 2,313 | 0.04 | 0 | New | |
| Belgian Progressive Party | 2,123 | 0.04 | 0 | New | |
| Democratic and Progressive Union | 1,843 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
| Green | 1,761 | 0.03 | 0 | New | |
| United Feminist Party | 1,686 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
| Progressive Front–Ecologists | 1,512 | 0.03 | 0 | New | |
| Kaganovemus | 1,376 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |
| Party for Free Communication and Environmental Protection | 993 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
| Party of New Forces | 729 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
| Liberal Party | 698 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
| PDE | 375 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
| PDRT | 311 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 5,535,631 | 100.00 | 212 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 5,535,631 | 91.61 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 507,058 | 8.39 | |||
| Total votes | 6,042,689 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 6,366,655 | 94.91 | |||
| Source: Belgian Elections,[4] Global Elections Database[5] | |||||
Senate
edit | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Christian People's Party | 1,420,777 | 25.93 | 29 | +1 | |
| Belgian Socialist Party (Wallonia) | 685,307 | 12.51 | 17 | –2 | |
| Belgian Socialist Party (Flanders) | 678,776 | 12.39 | 13 | +1 | |
| Party for Freedom and Progress | 572,535 | 10.45 | 11 | +2 | |
| Christian Social Party | 535,939 | 9.78 | 12 | +1 | |
| People's Union | 384,562 | 7.02 | 7 | –3 | |
| Party of Reforms and Freedom of Wallonia-PL | 330,155 | 6.03 | 6 | -1 | |
| Democratic Front of the Francophones | 266,713 | 4.87 | 7 | New | |
| Communist Party of Belgium | 182,711 | 3.33 | 1 | 0 | |
| Walloon Rally | 123,794 | 2.26 | 2 | 0 | |
| Vlaams Blok | 80,809 | 1.47 | 0 | New | |
| Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour | 51,571 | 0.94 | 0 | New | |
| All Power to the Workers | 44,379 | 0.81 | 0 | New | |
| Ecolo | 43,883 | 0.80 | 0 | 0 | |
| Belgian Socialist Party (Luxembourg) | 30,837 | 0.56 | 1 | New | |
| Party of German-speaking Belgians | 11,148 | 0.20 | 0 | 0 | |
| Walloon Liberal Party | 11,081 | 0.20 | 0 | New | |
| Walloon Rally (Luxembourg) | 6,659 | 0.12 | 0 | New | |
| Revolutionary Workers' League | 3,744 | 0.07 | 0 | New | |
| Liberal, Social and Democratic Party | 3,239 | 0.06 | 0 | New | |
| Belgian Progressive Party | 2,804 | 0.05 | 0 | New | |
| Francophone Liberal Party | 2,640 | 0.05 | 0 | New | |
| Democratic and Progressive Union | 2,221 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | |
| United Feminist Party | 2,045 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | |
| Revolutionary Communist Party | 917 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 5,479,246 | 100.00 | 106 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 5,479,246 | 90.65 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 565,299 | 9.35 | |||
| Total votes | 6,044,545 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 6,366,655 | 94.94 | |||
| Source: Belgian Elections[6] | |||||
References
edit- ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p289 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ^ Irving, R.E.M. (1979). "The Belgian general election of 1978: Not quite a non‐event". West European Politics. 2 (2): 250–255. doi:10.1080/01402387908424240. ISSN 0140-2382.
- ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p291
- ^ https://wahlergebnisse.belgium.be/de/election-results/abgeordnetenkammer/1978/k%C3%B6nigreich/163055
- ^ http://www.globalelectionsdatabase.com/index.php/tables/index/belgium/national-lower-house/1978
- ^ https://wahlergebnisse.belgium.be/de/election-results/senat/1978/k%C3%B6nigreich/160331