1857 Belgian general election

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1857 Belgian general election
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg
  1856 10 December 1857 (1857-12-10) 1859  

All 108 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
55 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Charlesrogier.jpg Pierre De Decker.jpg
Leader Charles Rogier Pierre de Decker
Party Liberal Catholic
Last election45 seats63 seats
Seats won7038
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 25Decrease2.svg 25
Popular vote39,28032,503
Percentage54.72%45.28%

Government before election

de Decker
Catholic-Liberal

Government after election

Rogier II
Liberal

General elections were held in Belgium on 10 December 1857, [1] [2] the first full general elections since 1848. [3] The elections were called by royal order of 12 November 1857, dissolving the Chamber of Representatives that had convened in a new session only two days earlier.

Contents

Going into the elections, Liberals held a majority in the Senate and the Catholics in the Chamber of Representatives. The unionist (Catholic–liberal) De Decker government resigned and a liberal government led by Charles Rogier took over shortly before the elections were called.

In the elections for the Chamber of Representatives the result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 70 of the 108 seats. [2] The Liberal Party now had a majority in both chambers of parliament.

Voter turnout was 79%, [3] although only 90,543 men (2% of the country's population) were eligible to vote. [2]

Campaign

Twelve of the 108 seats were uncontested, of which the Liberals won three and the Catholics nine. [3]

Results

Belgian Chamber 1857.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Liberal Party 39,28054.7270+25
Catholics32,50345.2838–25
Total71,783100.001080
Total votes71,783
Registered voters/turnout90,54379.28
Source: Mackie & Rose, [3] Sternberger et al.

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References

  1. Codebook Constituency-level Elections Archive, 2003
  2. 1 2 3 Sternberger, D, Vogel, B & Nohlen, D (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa - Erster Halbband, p105
  3. 1 2 3 4 Thomas T Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, p46