Belgian federal election, 2003

Belgium federal election, 2003

18 May 2003

All 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 40 of 71 seats in the Senate respectively 76 and 36 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Guy Verhofstadt Elio Di Rupo Antoine Duquesne Party VLD PS MR Leader since Candidate for PM 1999 2003 Leader's seat Dendermonde Mons Manhay Last election 23 seats, 14.3% 19 seats, 10.22% 18 seats, 10.1% Seats before 23 19 18 Seats won 25 25 24 Seat change 2 6 6 Popular vote 1,009,223 855,992 748,954 Percentage 15.4% 13.02% 11.4% Swing 1.1% 2.8 1.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Steve Stevaert Stefaan De Clerck Frank Vanhecke Party sp.a + Spirit CD&V VB Leader since 2003 2003 1996 Leader's seat Bilzen Kortrijk Antwerp Last election 14 seats, 9.5% 22 seats, 14.3% 15 seats, 9.87% Seats before 14 22 15 Seats won 23 21 18 Seat change 9 1 3 Popular vote 979,750 870,749 767,605 Percentage 14.9% 13.3% 11.59% Swing 5.4% 0.84% 1.70%

Colours denote the winning party in each electoral district, as shown in the table of results.

Federal Government before election Verhofstadt I Government Elected Federal Government Verhofstadt II Government

The 18 May 2003 Belgian federal elections were the first Belgian elections to be held under a new electoral code. One of the novelties was an electoral threshold of 5%, which has cost many seats to the N-VA and the Green parties, Ecolo and Agalev. The Belgian Socialists recovered well; the liberal and nationalist parties increased their vote as well.

The Flemish Greens lost all their seats. The Greens were attacked on two fronts: some, including their coalition partners, accused them of being too fundamentalist, while others said that they had betrayed their ideals. The resignation of a Walloon green minister (Isabelle Durant), one week before the elections, probably didn't do them much good either. Although it was predicted in some opinion polls, the gains of the Front National were surprising, considering that it seldom appeared in the media. The most important trend was the recovery of the Flemish social-democrats, led by the popular (some would say populist) Steve Stevaert. The fact that Elio Di Rupo was learning Dutch caused rumours that he hoped to become Prime Minister, if the social-democrats would turn out to be the largest political family.

Themes that probably influenced the election results in some way or another were the government's opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the controversy around the nuisance around the airport of Zaventem, the controversy surrounding the banning of tobacco publicity, and unemployment. But a general dominating theme was lacking.

Results

 Summary of the 18 May 2003 Belgian Chamber of Representatives election results

← 1999 • 2003 • 2007 →
Party		Main ideology	Leader(s)	Votes	%	+/–	E.c. %	Seats	+/–
	Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD)	Liberalism	Karel De Gucht	1,009,223	15.36	1.1	25.9	25	2
	Socialist Party–Differently (SP.A) + Spirit (SPIRIT)	Social democracy	Steve Stevaert	979,750	14.91	5.4	24.9	23	9
	Christian Democratic & Flemish (CD&V)	Christian democracy	Stefaan De Clerck	870,749	13.25	0.84	25.3	21	1
	Socialist Party (PS)	Social democracy	Elio Di Rupo	855,992	13.02	2.8	36.4	25	6
	Flemish Block (VB)	Flemish nationalism	Frank Vanhecke	767,605	11.59	1.7	18.2	18	3
	Reformist Movement (MR)	Liberalism	Antoine Duquesne	748,954	11.40	1.3	28.4	24	6
	Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH)	Christian democracy	Joëlle Milquet	359,660	5.47	0.4	15.4	8	2
	New Flemish Alliance (N-VA)	Flemish nationalism	Geert Bourgeois	201,399	3.06	2.5		1	9
	Confederated Ecologists (ECOLO)	Green politics		201,123	3.06	4.3	8.5	4	7
	National Front (FN)	Nationalism	Daniel Féret	130,012	1.98	0.5	5.6	1	0
	Living Differently (AGALEV)	Green politics	Jos Geysels	162,205	2.47	3.5	3.9	0	9
	Vivant (VIVANT)	Social liberalism	Roland Duchâtelet	81,337	1.20	0.9	—	0	0
	Others (parties that received less than 1% of the national vote)			204,180	3.10	—	—	—	—
Valid votes				6,572,189	94.74
Blank and invalid votes				364,612	5.26
Totals				6,936,801	100.00	—	—	150	0
Electorate and voter turnout				7,570,637	91.63
Source: Federal Portal − Chamber Elections 2003. Notes: 1) The 1999 data are resp. SP instead of SP.A-Spirit, CVP instead of CD&V, PRL-FDF-MCC alliance instead of MR, PSC instead of cdH and VU instead of N-VA.

 Summary of the 18 May 2003 Belgian Senate election results

Party		Votes	+/–	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Socialist Party–Different / Spirit (Socialistische Partij–Anders / Spirit)	1,013,560	462,903	15.47	6.59	7	3
	Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten)	1,007,868	55,752	15.38	0.01	7	1
	Christian Democratic and Flemish (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams)	832,849	80,659	12.71	2.03	6	0
	Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste)	840,908	243,018	12.84	3.19	6	2
	Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur)	795,757	140,796	12.15	1.58	5	0
	Flemish Block (Vlaams Blok)	741,940	158,732	11.32	1.91	5	1
	Humanist Democratic Centre (Centre Démocrate Humaniste)	362,705	11,297	5.54	0.49	2	1
	New-Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie)	200,273	117,557	3.06	2.0	0	2
	Ecolo	208,868	249,790	3.19	4.21	1	2
	Agalev	161,024	277,907	2.46	4.62	0	3
	National Front (Front National)	147,305	54,381	2.25	0.75	1	1
	Vivant (total)	86,723	36,775	1.3	0.7	–	–
	Others	151,731	—	2.3	—	—	—
Total (turnout 94.4 %)		6,551,511		100		40
Source: Verkiezingen 2003.

The 1999 data are resp. SP instead of SPA-S, CVP instead of CD&V, PRL-FDF-MCC alliance instead of MR, PSC instead of cdH and Volksunie instead of N-VA.

Further reading

• Fitzmaurice, John (January 2004). "Belgium Stays 'Purple': The 2003 Federal Election". West European Politics 27 (1): 146–156. doi:10.1080/01402380412331280843.