Belgian general election, 1974

Belgian general election, 1974

10 March 1974

212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives

General elections were held in Belgium on 10 March 1974.^[1] The Belgian Socialist Party emerged as the largest faction in the Chamber of Representatives with 59 of the 212 seats. Voter turnout was 90.3%.^[2] Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils, as well as for the Council of the German Cultural Community for the first time.

Results

Chamber of Deputies

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Belgian Socialist Party	1,401,725	26.66	59	New
Christian People's Party	1,222,646	23.25	50	+10
Party for Freedom and Progress	798,818	15.19	30	+26
People's Union	536,287	10.20	22	+1
Christian Social Party	478,209	9.09	22	+7
FDF-PDLP	301,303	5.73	14	New
Walloon Rally	269,455	5.12	11	−1
Belgian Socialist Party (Wallonia)	164,592	3.13	0	−25
Communist Party of Belgium	107,481	2.04	2	New
BSP–Red Lions	86,929	1.65	0	New
UDP	58,257	1.11	0	New
Party for Freedom and Progress (Wallonia)	20,866	0.40	0	−11
AMADA/TPO	19,794	0.38	0	New
VFP-PFU	18,511	0.35	0	New
MO	9,184	0.17	0	New
Party of German-speaking Belgians	8,700	0.17	0	New
PLW	6,846	0.13	0	New
FDP	4,729	0.09	0	New
UDP-DN	3,623	0.07	2	New
Rex Fr	2,764	0.05	0	New
RLiège	1,810	0.03	0	New
Kaganov	1,678	0.03	0	New
SAP	1,445	0.03	0	New
Diependale	1,229	0.02	0	New
A74	979	0.02	0	New
PRS	905	0.02	0	New
Zwartberg	665	0.01	0	New
Trotskyists	645	0.01	0	New
URB	389	0.01	0	New
PUR	184	0.00	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	453,108	–	–	–
Total	5,711,639	100	212	0
Source: Belgian Elections

Senate

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Belgian Socialist Party	1,301,722	25.11	27	New
Christian People's Party	1,219,811	23.53	27	New
Party for Freedom and Progress	755,694	14.58	16	+1
FDF-RW-PDLP	589,553	11.37	13	New
People's Union	545,215	10.52	10	New
Christian Social Party	430,512	8.30	10	New
Communist Party of Belgium	115,007	2.22	1	0
BSP–Red Lions	82,959	1.60	2	+2
UDP	60,400	1.16	0	0
Party for Liberty and Progress (Wallonia)	21,782	0.42	0	New
AMADA	16,744	0.32	0	New
Party of German-speaking Belgians	15,624	0.30	0	New
VFP	11,910	0.23	0	New
PMO	5,918	0.11	0	New
Iependael	2,874	0.05	0	New
Zwartberg	5,129	0.04	0	New
Kaganovemus	1,903	0.04	0	0
PMO/URB	1,078	0.02	0	New
A74	942	0.02	0	New
PLW	597	0.01	0	New
PUR	156	0.00	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	527,014	–	–	–
Total	5,711,729	100	106	0
Source: Belgian Elections

Council of the German Cultural Community

In this election, the new Council of the German Cultural Community (Rat der deutschen Kulturgemeinschaft) was directly elected for the first time; members of the council had been appointed a year earlier. The council is the precursor to the Parliament of the German-speaking Community.

Party	1974		1973	diff.
	perc.	seats	seats	seats
Christian Social Party (CSP)	46.9%	12	13	-1
Party of German-speaking Belgians (PJU-PDB)	25.4%	6	3	+3
Party for Freedom and Progress (PFF)	14.9%	4	6	-2
Socialist Party (SP)	12.1%	3	3	=
Others	0.7%	0	0	=
Total	100.0	25	25	0

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p289 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p291