1859 Belgian general election

1859 Belgian general election

← 1857 14 June 1859 (1859-06-14) 1861 →

58 of the 116 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
57 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Charles Rogier
Party Liberal Catholic
Leader since Candidate for PM
Seats before 70 seats 38 seats
Seats won 31 27
Seats after 69 47
Seat change Decrease 1 Increase 9
Popular vote 15,052 12,726
Percentage 54.19% 45.81%

Government before election

Rogier II
Liberal

Government after election

Rogier II
Liberal

Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 14 June 1859.[1][2] The result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 69 of the 116 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 31 of the 58 seats in the Senate.[2] Voter turnout was 55.9%, although only 49,672 people were eligible to vote.

Under the alternating system, elections for the Chamber of Representatives were only held in five out of the nine provinces: Antwerp, Brabant, Luxembourg, Namur and West Flanders. Additionally, special elections were held on the same day in the arrondissements of Charleroi, Liège and Mons.

  1. ^ Codebook Constituency-level Elections Archive, 2003
  2. ^ a b Sternberger, D, Vogel, B & Nohlen, D (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa - Erster Halbband, p105