From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General elections were held in
Belgium on 7 November 1971.
[1] The result was a victory for the
Christian People's Party , which won 40 of the 212 seats in the
Chamber of Representatives and 34 of the 106 seats in the
Senate . Voter turnout was 91.5%.
[2] Elections to the nine
provincial councils were also held.
The linguistic issues led to the splitting of the major parties into separate Flemish and Francophone parties. Consequently the election returned a very fragmented parliament.
The election followed the first
state reform , with the creation of three cultural communities. The newly elected members of parliament would thus also serve in the newly established cultural councils.
Results
Chamber of Representatives
Party Votes % Seats +/–
Belgian Socialist Party 1,335,730 25.29 57 –2
Christian People's Party 967,701 18.32 40 New
Party for Freedom and Progress 865,655 16.39 34 –13
People's Union 586,917 11.11 21 +1
Christian Social Party 327,393 6.20 15 New
Walloon Rally 306,606 5.81 12 +6
PSC –
CVP 292,101 5.53 12 −57
FDF –
Walloon Rally 286,639 5.43 12 New
Communist Party 161,517 3.06 5 0
Red Lions 104,040 1.97 4 +4 Independent Liberal Party 21,919 0.42 0 New Independent Christians 7,801 0.15 0 New Liberal Flemish People's Party 2,740 0.05 0 New Trotskyists 2,660 0.05 0 0 Kaganovemus 2,580 0.05 0 New Van Meerhage 2,004 0.04 0 New Z Kleur 1,547 0.03 0 0
Democratic and Progressive Union 1,534 0.03 0 New Francophone Party 1,471 0.03 0 New New Party 899 0.02 0 New U Verbruik 640 0.01 0 New Dieferenbes 633 0.01 0 0 De Keyzer 565 0.01 0 New R D Wal 339 0.01 0 New Total 5,281,631 100.00 212 0 Valid votes 5,281,631 91.99 Invalid/blank votes 459,637 8.01 Total votes 5,741,268 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 6,271,240 91.55 Source:
Belgian Elections
Senate
Party Votes % Seats +/–
CVP –
PSC 1,547,853 29.70 34 +5
Belgian Socialist Party 1,326,242 25.45 24 –9
Party for Freedom and Progress 776,514 14.90 15 −7
FDF –
Walloon Rally 598,768 11.49 6 +1
People's Union 592,509 11.37 12 +3
Communist Party of Belgium 106,799 2.05 1 −1
BSP –
Red Lions 97,371 1.87 0 New
Liberal Democrat and Pluralist Party 81,133 1.56 2 New
Democratic and Progressive Union 61,616 1.18 0 New Independent Liberal Party 15,138 0.29 0 New Kaganovemus 3,800 0.07 0 0 Liberal Flemish People's Party 3,159 0.06 0 New Valentyn 513 0.01 0 New Total 5,211,415 100.00 94 0 Valid votes 5,211,415 92.62 Invalid/blank votes 415,246 7.38 Total votes 5,626,661 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 6,271,240 89.72 Source:
Belgian Elections
References