1949 Belgian general election

1949 Belgian general election

← 1946 26 June 1949 (1949-06-26) 1950 →

All 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
106 seats in the Senate
107 (Chamber) seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Gaston Eyskens Paul-Henri Spaak
Party Christian Social Socialist
Leader since Candidate for PM Candidate for PM
Last election 92 seats, 42.54% 69 seats, 31.57%
Seats won 105 66
Seat change Increase13 Decrease3
Popular vote 2,190,895 1,496,539
Percentage 43.55% 29.76%
Swing Increase1.01% Decrease1.81%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Roger Motz Julien Lahaut
Party Liberal PVDA-PTB
Leader since 1945 1945
Last election 17 seats, 8.93% 23 seats, 12.69%
Seats won 29 12
Seat change Increase12 Decrease11
Popular vote 767,180 376,765
Percentage 15.25% 7.49%
Swing Increase6.32% Decrease5.20%

Chamber seat distribution by constituency

Government before election

Spaak IV
BSP/PSB-CVP/PSC

Government after election

G. Eyskens I
CVP/PSC-Lib

General elections were held in Belgium on 26 June 1949.[1] Several reforms took effect prior to the elections; they were the first after the introduction of universal women's suffrage; the number of seats in the Chamber of Representatives was increased from 202 to 212, and from now on, elections for the nine provincial councils were held simultaneously with parliamentary elections. The number of Chamber seats and the simultaneous provincial and parliamentary elections would remain unchanged until state reforms in 1993.

The result was a victory for the Christian Social Party, which won 105 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 54 of the 106 seats in the Senate.[2] Voter turnout was 94.4%.[3]

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p289 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, pp309-311
  3. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p290