1978 Belgian general election

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17 December 1978

1981 →

212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Paul Vanden Boeynants	André Cools	Karel Van Miert
Party	CVP	PS	sp.a
Leader since	Candidate for PM	1978	1978
Last election	56 seats, 26.20%	New	New
Seats won	57	31	26
Seat change	1	New	New
Popular vote	1,447,112	689,876	684,976
Percentage	26.14%	12.46%	12.37%
Swing	0.06%	New	New

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party
			PRLW
Leader	Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb	Willy De Clercq	André Damseaux
Party	cdH	Open Vld	PRLW
Leader since	1977	1977	1973
Last election	24 seats, 7.29%	17 seats, 8.54%	16 seats, 3.34%
Seats won	25	22	15
Seat change	1	5	1
Popular vote	560,440	573,387	256,685
Percentage	10.12%	10.36%	4.64%
Swing	2.83%	1.82%	1.30%

Seat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies.

Government before election

Tindemans II
CVP-PSC-BSP/PSB-VU-FDF

Government after election

Vanden Boeynants II
CVP-PSC-PS-BSP-VU-FDF

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v t e

General elections were held in Belgium on 17 December 1978. The Christian People's Party emerged as the largest party, with 57 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 29 of the 106 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 94.8%. Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils and for the Council of the German Cultural Community.

The snap elections were called after Prime Minister Leo Tindemans resigned over the Egmont pact, which would have transformed Belgium into a federal state. Vlaams Blok participated for the first time, which was formed out of disagreement within the People's Union over concessions in the Egmont pact.

Results

Chamber of Representatives



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian People's Party	1,447,112	26.14	57	+1
	Belgian Socialist Party (Wallonia)	689,876	12.46	31	+31
	Belgian Socialist Party (Flanders)	684,976	12.37	26	–1
	Party for Freedom and Progress	573,387	10.36	22	+5
	Christian Social Party	560,440	10.12	25	+1
	People's Union	388,762	7.02	14	–6
	Democratic Front of the Francophones	259,019	4.68	11	0
	Party of Reforms and Freedom of Wallonia	256,685	4.64	15	–1
	Communist Party of Belgium	180,234	3.26	4	+4
	Walloon Rally	128,153	2.32	4	0
	Vlaams Blok	75,635	1.37	1	New
	Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour	48,616	0.88	1	+1
	All Power to the Workers	43,483	0.79	0	New
	Liberal Party (Wallonia)	41,460	0.75	0	New
	PRLW–Party for Reforms and Freedom	31,280	0.57	0	0
	Belgian Socialist Party (Luxembourg)	30,222	0.55	1	New
	Ecolo	21,224	0.38	0	0
	Walloon Liberal Party	9,861	0.18	0	New
	Party of German-speaking Belgians	9,032	0.16	0	0
	ECOLOG	8,360	0.15	0	0
	Revolutionary Workers' League (Flanders)	6,383	0.12	0	0
	Walloon Rally (Luxembourg)	6,493	0.12	0	New
	Agalev	5,556	0.10	0	0
	Ecology–Politics	3,922	0.07	0	New
	Liberal, Social and Democratic Party	3,678	0.07	0	New
	Belgian National Party	3,465	0.06	0	New
	Revolutionary Workers' League (Wallonia)	2,597	0.05	0	0
	Francophone Liberal Party	2,313	0.04	0	New
	Belgian Progressive Party	2,123	0.04	0	New
	Democratic and Progressive Union	1,843	0.03	0	0
	Green	1,761	0.03	0	New
	United Feminist Party	1,686	0.03	0	0
	Progressive Front–Ecologists	1,512	0.03	0	New
	Kaganovemus	1,376	0.02	0	0
	Party for Free Communication and Environmental Protection	993	0.02	0	New
	Party of New Forces	729	0.01	0	New
	Liberal Party	698	0.01	0	New
	PDE	375	0.01	0	New
	PDRT	311	0.01	0	New
Total		5,535,631	100.00	212	0

Valid votes		5,535,631	91.61
Invalid/blank votes		507,058	8.39
Total votes		6,042,689	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,366,655	94.91
Source: Belgian Elections, Global Elections Database

Senate



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian People's Party	1,420,777	25.93	29	+1
	Belgian Socialist Party (Wallonia)	685,307	12.51	17	–2
	Belgian Socialist Party (Flanders)	678,776	12.39	13	+1
	Party for Freedom and Progress	572,535	10.45	11	+2
	Christian Social Party	535,939	9.78	12	+1
	People's Union	384,562	7.02	7	–3
	Party of Reforms and Freedom of Wallonia-PL	330,155	6.03	6	-1
	Democratic Front of the Francophones	266,713	4.87	7	New
	Communist Party of Belgium	182,711	3.33	1	0
	Walloon Rally	123,794	2.26	2	0
	Vlaams Blok	80,809	1.47	0	New
	Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour	51,571	0.94	0	New
	All Power to the Workers	44,379	0.81	0	New
	Ecolo	43,883	0.80	0	0
	Belgian Socialist Party (Luxembourg)	30,837	0.56	1	New
	Party of German-speaking Belgians	11,148	0.20	0	0
	Walloon Liberal Party	11,081	0.20	0	New
	Walloon Rally (Luxembourg)	6,659	0.12	0	New
	Revolutionary Workers' League	3,744	0.07	0	New
	Liberal, Social and Democratic Party	3,239	0.06	0	New
	Belgian Progressive Party	2,804	0.05	0	New
	Francophone Liberal Party	2,640	0.05	0	New
	Democratic and Progressive Union	2,221	0.04	0	0
	United Feminist Party	2,045	0.04	0	0
	Revolutionary Communist Party	917	0.02	0	New
Total		5,479,246	100.00	106	0

Valid votes		5,479,246	90.65
Invalid/blank votes		565,299	9.35
Total votes		6,044,545	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,366,655	94.94
Source: Belgian Elections

References

Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p289 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
Nohlen & Stöver, p291
https://wahlergebnisse.belgium.be/de/election-results/abgeordnetenkammer/1978/k%C3%B6nigreich/163055
http://www.globalelectionsdatabase.com/index.php/tables/index/belgium/national-lower-house/1978
https://wahlergebnisse.belgium.be/de/election-results/senat/1978/k%C3%B6nigreich/160331

v t e Elections and referendums in Belgium (list)
General/federal elections	1830 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1848 1850 1851 1852 1854 1855 1856 1857 1859 1861 1863 1864 1866 1867 1868 1870 (Jun) 1870 (Aug) 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1919 1921 1925 1929 1932 1936 1939 1946 1949 1950 1954 1958 1961 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1978 1981 1985 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2010 2014 2019 2024
Regional elections	1974 1977 1978 1981 1986 1989 1990 1995 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Provincial elections	1949 1950 1954 1958 1961 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1978 1981 1985 1987 1991 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024
Municipal elections	1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Referendums	1950

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