1978 Belgian general election

1978 Belgian general election

← 1977 17 December 1978 1981 →
212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
First party Second party Third party   Leader Paul Vanden Boeynants André Cools Karel Van Miert Party CVP PS sp.a Leader since Candidate for PM 1978 1978 Last election 56 seats, 26.20% New New Seats won 57 31 26 Seat change 1 New New Popular vote 1,447,112 689,876 684,976 Percentage 26.14% 12.46% 12.37% Swing 0.06% New New   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   PRLW Leader Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb Willy De Clercq André Damseaux Party cdH Open Vld PRLW Leader since 1977 1977 1973 Last election 24 seats, 7.29% 17 seats, 8.54% 16 seats, 3.34% Seats won 25 22 15 Seat change 1 5 1 Popular vote 560,440 573,387 256,685 Percentage 10.12% 10.36% 4.64% Swing 2.83% 1.82% 1.30%
Seat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies.
Government before election Tindemans II CVP-PSC-BSP/PSB-VU-FDF Government after election Vanden Boeynants II CVP-PSC-PS-BSP-VU-FDF

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General elections were held in Belgium on 17 December 1978.^[1] The Christian People's Party emerged as the largest party, with 57 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 29 of the 106 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 94.8%.^[2] Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils and for the Council of the German Cultural Community.

The snap elections were called after Prime Minister Leo Tindemans resigned over the Egmont pact, which would have transformed Belgium into a federal state. Vlaams Blok participated for the first time, which was formed out of disagreement within the People's Union over concessions in the Egmont pact.