1978 Belgian general election

General elections were held in Belgium on 17 December 1978. 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%. Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils and for the Council of the German Cultural Community.

1978 Belgian general election

17 December 1978
212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
First party Second party Third party   Leader Paul Vanden Boeynants André Cools Karel Van Miert Party CVP PS sp.a Leader since Candidate for PM 1978 1978 Last election 56 seats, 26.20% New New Seats won 57 31 26 Seat change 1 New New Popular vote 1,447,112 689,876 684,976 Percentage 26.14% 12.46% 12.37% Swing 0.06% New New   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   PRLW Leader Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb Willy De Clercq André Damseaux Party cdH Open Vld PRLW Leader since 1977 1977 1973 Last election 24 seats, 7.29% 17 seats, 8.54% 16 seats, 3.34% Seats won 25 22 15 Seat change 1 5 1 Popular vote 560,440 573,387 256,685 Percentage 10.12% 10.36% 4.64% Swing 2.83% 1.82% 1.30%
Seat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies.
Government before election Tindemans II CVP-PSC-BSP/PSB-VU-FDF Government after election Vanden Boeynants II CVP-PSC-PS-BSP-VU-FDF

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

Chamber of Deputies

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	+1
UDRT/RAD	48,616	0.88	1	+1
AMADA/TPO	43,483	0.79	0	New
PL	41,460	0.75	0	New
PRLW/PRF	31,280	0.57	0	0
Belgian Socialist Party (Luxembourg)	30,222	0.55	1	New
Ecolo	21,224	0.38	0	0
PLW	9,861	0.18	0	New
Party of German-speaking Belgians	9,032	0.16	0	0
ECOLOG	8,360	0.15	0	0
Walloon Rally (Luxembourg)	6,493	0.12	0	New
AGALEV	5,556	0.10	0	0
ECOPOL	3,922	0.07	0	New
LSDP	3,678	0.07	0	New
BNP-PNB	3,465	0.06	0	New
LRT	2,597	0.05	0	0
PLF	2,313	0.04	0	New
PPB	2,123	0.04	0	New
UDP	1,843	0.03	0	New
GROEN	1,761	0.03	0	New
PFU	1,686	0.03	0	0
PF-ECO	1,512	0.03	0	New
KAGANO	1,376	0.02	0	0
PVCM	993	0.02	0	New
PFN	729	0.01	0	New
LP-PL	698	0.01	0	New
PDE	375	0.01	0	New
PDRT	311	0.01	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	507,058	–	–	–
Total	6,042,689	100	212	0
Source: Belgian Elections

Senate

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
UDRT/RAD	51,571	0.94	0	New
AMADA/TPO	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
PLW	11,081	0.2	0	New
Walloon Rally (Luxembourg)	6,659	0.12	0	New
RAL/LRT	3,744	0.07	0	New
LSDP	3,239	0.06	0	New
PPB	2,804	0.05	0	New
PLF	2,640	0.05	0	New
UDP	2,221	0.04	0	New
PFU	2,045	0.04	0	New
PCR	917	0.02	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	565,299	–	–	–
Total	6,044,545	100	106	0
Source: Belgian Elections