Belgian general election, 1857

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Belgian general election, 1857
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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
Leader sinceCandidate for PMCandidate for PM
Seats before45 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

Elected Government

Rogier II
Liberal

Kingdom of Belgium
State Coat of Arms of Belgium.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Belgium
Constitution
Foreign relations

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.

Belgium Federal constitutional monarchy in Western Europe

Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of 30,688 square kilometres (11,849 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.4 million. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liège.

In Belgium, a Royal Decree (RD) or Royal Order (Dutch), Arrêté Royal (French), or Königlicher Erlass (German) is a federal governmental decree regarding the implementation or application of legislation, or exercising the powers delegated to the crown by legislation. It is issued with the formal signature of the king, and is countersigned by a minister. Its implementation usually begins on the date that it is published in the Belgian Official Journal.

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.

Pierre de Decker Belgian politician

Pierre (Pieter) Jacques François de Decker was a Belgian Roman Catholic politician, statesman and author.

Charles Rogier Belgian journalist, statesman

Charles Latour Rogier was a Belgian liberal statesman and a leader in the Belgian Revolution of 1830. He became Prime Minister of Belgium on two separate occasions: from 1847 to 1852, and again from 1857 to 1868.

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.

The Liberal Party was a Belgian political party that existed from 1846 until 1961, when it became the Party for Freedom and Progress, Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang/Parti de la Liberté et du Progrès or PVV-PLP, under the leadership of Omer Vanaudenhove.

Voter turnout was 79.3%, [3] although only 90,543 people (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

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Liberal Party 39,28054.770+25
Catholics32,50345.338–25
Invalid/blank votes4,436–––
Total76,2191001080
Registered voters/turnout40,43569.1––
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
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