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1900 Belgian general election

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1900 Belgian general election

← 1898 27 May 1900 1902 →

All 152 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Paul de Smet de Naeyer August De Winne
Party Catholic Labour Liberal
Seats won 86 32 31
Popular vote 993,945 461,295 464,959
Percentage 48.46% 22.49% 22.67%

Government before election

de Smet de Naeyer II
Catholic

Government after election

de Smet de Naeyer II
Catholic

Full general elections were held in Belgium on 27 May 1900.[1] They were the first elections under a proportional system (using the D'Hondt method) instead of a majority system,[2] with Belgium becoming the first country to adopt proportional representation for parliamentary elections. Single member constituencies were replaced with multi-member constituencies of between three and eighteen seats.

The introduction of proportional representation was beneficial to the Liberal Party, which significantly increased its number of seats. Although the Catholic Party lost seats, it retained its absolute majority, winning 86 of the 152 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 44 of the 76 seats in the Senate.[3]

Constituencies

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The distribution of seats among the electoral districts was as follows for the Chamber of Representatives.[4] As the electoral system changed to a proportional one, the electoral arrondissements with only one or two representatives were grouped together to form larger ones. Each electoral district now had at least 3 representatives, with the exception of Neufchâteau-Virton.

Province Arrondissement Previous New
Antwerp Antwerp 11
Mechelen 4
Turnhout 3
Limburg Hasselt 3
Maaseik 1 3
Tongeren 2
East Flanders Aalst 4
Oudenaarde 3
Gent 9 10
Eeklo 1
Dendermonde 3
Sint-Niklaas 4
West Flanders Bruges 3
Roeselare 2 4
Tielt 2
Kortrijk 4
Ypres 3
Veurne 1 4
Diksmuide 1
Ostend 2
Brabant Leuven 6
Brussels 18
Nivelles 4
Hainaut Tournai 4 6
Ath 2
Charleroi 8
Thuin 3
Mons 6
Soignies 3
Liège Huy 2 4
Waremme 2
Liège 11
Verviers 4
Luxembourg Arlon 1 3
Marche 1
Bastogne 1
Neufchâteau 1 2
Virton 1
Namur Namur 4
Dinant 2 4
Philippeville 2
152 152

Results

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Chamber of Representatives

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PartyVotes%Seats
Catholic Party993,94548.4686
Liberal Party464,95922.6731
Belgian Labour Party461,29522.4932
Christene Volkspartij52,0932.541
Radical Party33,8401.652
Other parties44,7822.180
Total2,050,914100.00152
Registered voters/turnout2,269,414
Source: Belgian Elections

Senate

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PartyVotes%Seats
Catholic Party911,26252.8144
Liberal Party565,76732.7923
Belgian Labour Party119,0006.904
Radical Party78,1954.534
Social Radical Party17,8381.031
Liberal dissidents4,6330.270
Independents28,9701.680
Total1,725,665100.0076
Registered voters/turnout2,020,987
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Belgian Elections

References

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  1. ^ Nohlen, Dieter; Stöver, Philip (31 May 2010). Elections in Europe: A data handbook. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 289. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7.
  2. ^ Shepherd, William R. (1900). "Record of Political Events". Political Science Quarterly. 15 (4): 760. doi:10.2307/2140482. ISSN 0032-3195.
  3. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, pp307-310
  4. ^ List of members of the Chamber of Representatives (1900-1901)