Belgian general election, 1912

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Belgian general election, 1912
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg
  1910 2 June 1912 1914  

All 186 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
93 of 120 seats in the Senate

 First partySecond partyThird party
  DeBroqueville.jpg No image.png No image.png
Leader Charles de Broqueville N/A
Party Catholic LSK Liberal
Leader sinceCandidate for PMN/A
Seats before86 seats20 seats36 seats
Seats won1014521
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 15Increase2.svg 25Decrease2.svg 15
Popular vote1,337,315710,459291,084
Percentage51.01%27.10%11.10%
SwingDecrease2.svg 2.10%Increase2.svg 8.03%Decrease2.svg 7.45%

 Fourth partyFifth party
  No image.png No image.png
LeaderLaurent Vandersmissen
Party Labour PDC
Leader since1911
Seats before25 seats1 seat
Seats won181
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 7Steady2.svg
Popular vote243,33819,317
Percentage9.28%0.74%
SwingIncrease2.svg 2.59%Increase2.svg 0.16%

Prime Minister before election

Charles de Broqueville
Catholic

Elected Prime Minister

Charles de Broqueville
Catholic

Full general elections were held in Belgium on 2 June 1912. [1]

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.

Contents

Background

Charles de Broqueville M 37 4 Charles de Brocqueville.jpg
Charles de Broqueville

Catholics had formed the government continuously since 1884. Minister Schollaert had drafted a controversial education law and was forced to resign in June 1911. He was succeeded by a government led by Charles de Broqueville. The education law intended to financially equalise public and private education, which was opposed by liberals and socialists as it benefited private (Catholic) schools. Both opposition parties, united against Catholics, were expected to win the elections. King Albert I intended to switch to a progressive government headed by liberal Paul Hymans. However, the elections unexpectedly increased the majority of the Catholic Party, which won 101 of the 186 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 54 of the 93 seats in the Senate. [2] Consequently, the incumbent Catholic government headed by Charles de Broqueville continued after the elections.

Frans Schollaert 1851-1917, Former Belgian prime minister

François (Frans) Victor Marie Ghislain Schollaert was a Belgian Catholic Party politician.

Charles de Broqueville Belgian politician

Charles Marie Pierre Albert, Count de Broqueville was the 20th Prime Minister of Belgium, serving during World War I.

Albert I of Belgium third King of the Belgians

Albert I reigned as the King of the Belgians from 1909 to 1934. This was an eventful period in the history of Belgium, which included the period of World War I (1914–1918), when 90 percent of Belgium was overrun, occupied, and ruled by the German Empire. Other crucial issues included the adoption of the Treaty of Versailles, the ruling of the Belgian Congo as an overseas possession of the Kingdom of Belgium along with the League of Nations mandate of Ruanda-Urundi, the reconstruction of Belgium following the war, and the first five years of the Great Depression (1929–1934). King Albert died in a mountaineering accident in eastern Belgium in 1934, at the age of 58, and he was succeeded by his son Leopold III.

Electoral system

These elections were the first full general elections since 27 May 1900, when a proportional system using the D'Hondt method was introduced. Since 1893, there was universal suffrage with plural voting. Hence there were more votes than the 1,745,666 who could vote in these Chamber elections (out of a population of 7,571,387 in the country).

The D'Hondt method or the Jefferson method is a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. The method described is named in the United States after Thomas Jefferson, who introduced the method for proportional allocation of seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1791, and in Europe after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, who described it in 1878 for proportional allocation of parliamentary seats to the parties. There are two forms: closed list and an open list.

Plural voting is the practice whereby one person might be able to vote multiple times in an election. It is not to be confused with a plurality voting system which does not necessarily involve plural voting. Weighted voting is a generalisation of plural voting.

Following the population census, the number of seats in the Chamber of Representatives increased from 166 to 186. The number of directly elected seats in the Senate (half the number of Chamber seats) consequently increased from 83 to 93; the number of provincial senators remained at 27.

Results

Chamber of Representatives

PartyVotes%Seats+/-
Catholic Party 1,337,31551.01101+15
Liberal-Socialist Kartels 710,45927.1045+25
Liberal Party 291,08411.1021-15
Belgian Labour Party 243,3389.2818-7
Christian Democratic Party19,3170.7410
Other parties20,2580.7700
Invalid/blank votes62,327-
Total2,684,098100186+18
Source: Belgian Elections

Senate

PartyVotes%Seats
Catholic Party 1,224,76752.2254
Liberal-Socialist Kartels 480,45720.4916
Liberal Party 408,04317.4014
Belgian Labour Party 223,1979.529
Christian Democratic Party8,9370.380
Invalid/blank votes75,136
Total2,420,53710093
Source: Belgian Elections

Constituencies

The distribution of seats among the electoral districts was as follows. [3] Several arrondissements got one or more additional seats, following the population census. With Neufchâteau-Virton receiving an extra seat, every electoral district now had at minimum three seats in the Chamber.

ProvinceArrondissement(s)ChamberChangeSenateChange
Antwerp Antwerp 15+27+1
Mechelen 5+15+1
Turnhout 4+1
Elected by the provincial council3
Limburg Hasselt 34+1
Tongeren-Maaseik 4+1
Elected by the provincial council2
East Flanders Aalst 54
Oudenaarde 3
Gent-Eeklo 12+16+1
Dendermonde 4+14
Sint-Niklaas 4
Elected by the provincial council4
West Flanders Bruges 42
Roeselare-Tielt 5+13+1
Kortrijk 54
Ypres 3
Veurne-Diksmuide-Ostend 5+12
Elected by the provincial council3
Brabant Leuven 7+13
Brussels 26+513+2
Nivelles 42
Elected by the provincial council4
Hainaut Tournai-Ath 63
Charleroi 11+27+1
Thuin 3
Mons 7+15
Soignies 4
Elected by the provincial council4
Liège Huy-Waremme 42
Liège 13+17+1
Verviers 52
Elected by the provincial council3
Luxembourg Arlon-Marche-Bastogne 33
Neufchâteau-Virton 3+1
Elected by the provincial council2
Namur Namur 55+1
Dinant-Philippeville 4
Elected by the provincial council2
Total186+20120+10

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References

  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. Nohlen & Stöver, pp308-310
  3. List of members of the Chamber of Representatives (1912)