1864 Belgian general election

Last updated

1864 Belgian general election
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg
  1863 11 August 1864 (1864-08-11) 1866  

All 116 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
57 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Charlesrogier.jpg No image.png
Leader Charles Rogier
Party Liberal Catholic
Leader sinceCandidate for PM
Seats before59 seats57 seats
Seats won6452
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 5Decrease2.svg 5
Popular vote39,57639,750
Percentage49.74%49.96%

Government before election

Rogier II
Liberal

Government after election

Rogier II
Liberal

General elections were held in Belgium on 11 August 1864, [1] [2] the first full general elections since 1857. [3] The snap elections were called upon the loss of a parliamentary majority for the liberal government of Charles Rogier and a hung parliament, following the death of liberal representative Charles Cumont on 10 July 1864. In the last few parliamentary sessions preceding the elections, all Catholic members quit the Chamber, resulting in it not being quorate. [4] The Chamber was disbanded by order of 16 July.

Contents

Although the Catholics received the most votes for seats in the Chamber of Representatives, the result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 64 of the 116 seats. [2] Liberals gained three seats in Bruges, one seat in Charleroi, two seats in Ghent, one seat in Namur and one seat in Soignies. Catholics gained one seat in Aalst, one seat in Tongeren and one seat in Waremme. This returned a parliamentary majority for the Liberals.

Voter turnout was 76.7%, [3] although only 103,717 people (2.1% of the population) were eligible to vote. [2]

Results

Chamber of Representatives

Belgian Chamber 1864.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Catholics39,75049.9652–5
Liberal Party 39,57649.7464+5
Others2400.300New
Total79,566100.001160
Total votes79,566
Registered voters/turnout103,71776.71
Source: Mackie & Rose, [3] Sternberger et al.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian House of Representatives</span> Lower house of the Parliament of Australia

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 United Kingdom general election</span> British 1983 election

The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of the Labour Party in 1945, with a majority of 144 seats and the first of two consecutive landslide victories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Revolutionary Party</span> Dutch political party

The Anti-Revolutionary Party was a Protestant conservative and Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1879 by Abraham Kuyper, a neo-Calvinist theologian and minister. In 1980 the party merged with the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and the Christian Historical Union (CHU) to form the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Representatives (Netherlands)</span> Lower house of the Netherlands parliament

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. It has 150 seats, which are filled through elections using party-list proportional representation. Generally, the house is located in the Binnenhof in The Hague, however, it has temporarily moved to the former building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Bezuidenhoutseweg 67 in the Hague while the Binnenhof is being renovated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Senate</span> Upper house of the Parliament of Australia

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a total of 76 senators: 12 are elected from each of the six Australian states regardless of population and 2 from each of the two autonomous internal Australian territories. Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation.

A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the legislature. It is sworn into office, with or without the formal support of other parties, enabling a government to be formed. Under such a government, legislation can only be passed with the support or consent of enough other members of the legislature to provide a majority, encouraging multi-partisanship. In bicameral legislatures, the term relates to the situation in the chamber whose confidence is considered most crucial to the continuance in office of the government.

A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled.

A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition has an absolute majority of legislators in a parliament or other legislature. This situation is also known as a balanced parliament, or as a legislature under no overall control (NOC), and can result in a minority government.

Limited voting is a voting system in which electors have fewer votes than there are positions available. The positions are awarded to the candidates who receive the most votes absolutely. In the special case in which the voter may vote for only one candidate and there are two or more posts, this system is called the single non-transferable vote or sometimes the strictly limited vote.

The Catholic Party was a Belgian political party established in 1869 as the Confessional Catholic Party.

In parliamentary politics, balance of power is a situation in which one or more members of a parliamentary or similar chamber can by their uncommitted vote enable a party to attain and remain in minority government. The term may also be applied to the members who hold that position. The members holding the balance of power may guarantee their support for a government by either joining it in a coalition government or by an assurance that they will vote against any motion of no confidence in the government or will abstain in such a vote. In return for such a commitment, such members may demand legislative or policy commitments from the party they are to support. A person or party may also hold a balance of power in a chamber without any commitment to government, in which case both the government and opposition groupings may on occasion need to negotiate for that person's or party's support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1894 Belgian general election</span>

Full general elections were held in Belgium on 14 October 1894, with run-off elections held on 21 October 1894.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1898 Belgian general election</span>

Partial legislative elections were held in Belgium on 22 May 1898, with run-off elections held on 29 May. Under the alternating system, elections for the Chamber of Representatives were held in only four out of the nine provinces: Hainaut, Limburg, Liège and East Flanders. Thus, only 75 seats out of the 152 seats in the Chamber of Representatives were up for election. The Catholic Party retained their absolute majority.

Full general elections were held in Belgium on 2 June 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1847 Belgian general election</span>

Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 8 June 1847. The result was a victory for the new Liberal Association, which had been formed the previous year. It won 33 seats to the Catholics' 21, as the latter were split into dogmatic and liberal groups. Only 1% of the country's population was eligible to vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1857 Belgian general election</span>

General elections were held in Belgium on 10 December 1857, the first full general elections since 1848. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1859 Belgian general election</span>

Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 14 June 1859. The result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 69 of the 116 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 31 of the 58 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 55.9%, although only 49,672 people were eligible to vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1884 Belgian general election</span>

Legislative elections were held in Belgium in June and July 1884, for partial Chamber and full Senate elections respectively. Voter turnout was 79.1% in the Chamber of Representatives elections, although only 69,276 people were eligible to vote.

A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geological landslide buries whatever is in its path. What constitutes a landslide varies by the type of electoral system. Even within an electoral system, there is no consensus on what sized margin makes for a landslide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Trinidadian local elections</span>

On Monday November 28, 2016, local elections were held in Trinidad, the bigger of the two main islands of Caribbean island state Trinidad and Tobago. The elections were held slightly more than one month later than originally planned. They were held to select the membership of 14 local authorities, with representatives elected from 137 single-member districts across the country. The entire membership of Trinidad's local government was renewed as a result of these elections, with the previous set of local representatives having been elected in 2013. The elections came roughly a year following the 2015 parliamentary general election.

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 Thomas T. Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, p46
  4. Parliamentary proceedings of 9 and 12 July 1864, Chamber of Representatives