1831 Belgian general election

29 August 1831 (1831-08-29)

1833 →

All 102 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and all 51 seats in the Senate

Government before election

de Mûelenaere
Catholic-Liberal

Government after election

de Mûelenaere
Catholic-Liberal

General elections were held in Belgium on 29 August 1831.^[1] They were the first elections to the new bicameral parliament created by the constitution adopted in February 1831.

In the Senate elections Catholics won 31 seats and Liberals four.^[1] Voter turnout was 62.2%, although only 46,000 people (1.1% of the country's population) were eligible to vote.^[1]

On 8 September 1831, King Leopold I of Belgium opened the 1831–1832 parliamentary session, the first ever of the Belgian Parliament.^[2]

Electoral system

The electoral system was defined in the 1831 constitution and the electoral law of 3 March 1831. The 102 members of the Chamber of Representatives and 51 members of the Senate were elected by absolute majority in 44 electoral districts. Each district had between one and seven representatives and one to three senators; some were elected by joint or alternating districts.

Eligibility vote was restricted to men aged 25 or older who held Belgian nationality either through birth or through grand naturalisation, and who paid a cens fixed by the electoral law. The cens differentiated depending on the place of residence.

Constituencies

The 44 constituencies elected 102 representatives and appointed 51 senators as follows.^[3]

Province	Constituency	Representatives	Senators
Antwerp (9 representatives; 4 senators)	Antwerp	4	2
	Mechelen	3	1
	Turnhout	2	1
Brabant (14 representatives; 7 senators)	Brussels	7	3.5^[a]
	Nivelles	3	1.5^[a]
	Leuven	4	2
West Flanders (15 representatives; 8 senators)	Bruges	3	1
	Ypres	2	1.5^[b]
	Kortrijk	3	2
	Tielt	2	1
	Roeselare	2	1
	Veurne	1	1.5^[b]
	Ostend	1
	Diksmuide	1
East Flanders (18 representatives; 9 senators)	Ghent	6	3
	Aalst	3	2
	Sint-Niklaas	3	1
	Oudenaarde	3	1
	Dendermonde	2	1
	Eeklo	1	1
Hainaut (15 representatives; 7 senators)	Mons	3	1.5^[c]
	Tournai	4	1.5^[c]
	Charleroi	2.5^[d]	1
	Thuin	1.5^[d]	1
	Soignies	2	1
	Ath	2	1
Liège (9 representatives; 5 senators)	Liège	4.5^[e]	2
	Huy	1.5^[e]	1
	Verviers	2	1
	Waremme	1	1
Limburg (9 representatives; 4 senators)	Maastricht	3.5^[f]	2
	Hasselt	2.5^[f]	1
	Roermond	3	1
Luxembourg^[g] (8 representatives; 4 senators)	Bastogne	1	1.5^[h]
	Marche	1
	Neufchâteau	1
	Virton	1
	Diekirch^[g]	1	1.5^[i]
	Grevenmacher^[g]	1
	Arlon	1
	Luxembourg^[g]	1	1
Namur (5 representatives; 3 senators)	Namur	3	1.5^[j]
	Philippeville	1	0.5^[j]
	Dinant	1	1

^ ^a ^b Brussels and Nivelles elected one Senator on an alternating basis, starting with Brussels
^ ^a ^b Veurne, Ostend and Diksmuide together elected one Senator, and a second on an alternating basis with Ypres
^ ^a ^b Mons and Tournai appointed one additional senator on an alternating basis
^ ^a ^b Charleroi and Thuin elected one representative on an alternating basis, beginning with Thuin
^ ^a ^b Liège and Huy elected one representative on an alternating basis, beginning with Huy.
^ ^a ^b Maastricht and Hasselt elected one representative on an alternating basis, beginning with Hasselt.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d This is the area of Luxembourg Province until 1839, when the stipulations of the Treaty of London ceded the area covered by the constituencies of Diekirch, Grevenmacher and Luxembourg back to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.^[4]
^ Bastogne and Marche alternated with Neufchâteau and Virton to appoint one Senator between them, with the first nomination being from Neufchâteau. These two pairs of constituencies further alternated with Diekirch/Grevenmacher/Arlon to appoint a second senator
^ Diekirch, Grevenmacher and Arlon together appointed one Senator between them, and a second in turn with the paired constituencies Bastogne/Marche and Neufchâteau/Virton.
^ ^a ^b Philippeville and Namur appointed one further Senator on an alternating basis, beginning with Philippeville.

Results

Senate


Party		Seats
	Catholics	31
	Liberals	4
	Independents	16
Total		51

Source: Sternberger et al.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Sternberger, D, Vogel, B & Nohlen, D (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa - Erster Halbband, p105
^ Discours du Trône pour l'ouverture de la session 1831-1832, prononcé par Sa Majesté, Chamber of Representatives
^ Recueil des décrets du congrès national de la Belgique, vol. 2 (Brussels, H. Remy, 1831), pp. 218-228. On Google Books
^ Heuschling, Xavier (1878). "Statistique de la population dans ses rapports avec la représentation narionale". Revue de Belgique. 30: 428. OCLC 849233859.