1878 Belgian general election

1878 Belgian general election

← 1876 11 June 1878 (1878-06-11) 1880 →
66 of the 132 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 67 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Walthère Frère-Orban Jules Malou Party Liberal Catholic Leader since Candidate for PM Candidate for PM Seats before 57 seats 67 seats Seats won 48 18 Seats after 72 60 Seat change 15 7 Popular vote 21,283 20,700 Percentage 50.31% 48.94%
Government before election Malou I Catholic Government after election Frère-Orban II Liberal

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Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 11 June, 18 June and 15 July 1878.^[1][2] The result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 72 of the 132 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 36 of the 66 seats in the Senate.^[2] Voter turnout was 62.5%, although only 56,640 people were eligible to vote.

Under the alternating system, elections for the Chamber of Representatives were only held in four out of the nine provinces: Hainaut, Limburg, Liège and East Flanders. Additionally, special elections were held in the arrondissements of Antwerp, Brussels and Kortrijk after these electoral districts got one extra seat due to population growth.

They were the first elections with strict guarantees for secret ballots following the law of 9 July 1877, which contributed to the success of the liberals.

Results

Chamber of Representatives

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Won	Total	+/–
	Liberal Party	18,966	52.61	48	72	+15
	Catholic Party	17,085	47.39	18	60	–7
Total		36,051	100.00	66	132	+8
Total votes		36,051	–
Registered voters/turnout		57,640	62.55
Source: Mackie & Rose,[3] Sternberger et al.

Senate

Party		Seats
	Liberal Party	36
	Catholic Party	30
Total		66
Source: Sternberger et al.

Constituencies

The distribution of seats among the electoral districts was as follows for the Chamber of Representatives, with the difference compared to the previous election due to population growth:^[4]

References