General elections were held in Belgium on 17 December 1978.[1] 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%.[2] 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.
ResultsEdit
Chamber of DeputiesEdit
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 |
SenateEdit
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 |
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p289 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p291