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2014 Belgian federal election

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2014 Belgian federal election

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FieldValue
countryBelgium
previous_election2010
next_election2019
seats_for_electionAll 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
majority_seats76
election_date
turnout89.37%
leader1Bart De Wever
party1New Flemish Alliance
last_election127
seats133
percentage120.26%
leader2Elio Di Rupo
party2Parti Socialiste (Belgium)
last_election226
seats223
percentage211.67%
leader3Wouter Beke
party3Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams
last_election317
seats318
percentage311.61%
leader4Gwendolyn Rutten
party4Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats
last_election413
seats414
percentage49.78%
leader5Charles Michel
party5Mouvement Réformateur
last_election518
seats520
percentage59.64%
leader6Bruno Tobback
party6Socialistische Partij Anders
last_election613
seats613
percentage68.83%
leader7Wouter Van Besien
party7Groen (political party)
last_election75
seats76
percentage75.32%
leader8Benoît Lutgen
party8Centre démocrate humaniste
last_election89
seats89
percentage84.98%
leader9Peter Mertens
party9Workers' Party of Belgium
last_election90
seats92
percentage93.72%
leader10Gerolf Annemans
party10Vlaams Belang
last_election1012
seats103
percentage103.67%
leader11Olivier Deleuze
& Emily Hoyos
party11Ecolo
last_election118
seats116
percentage113.30%
leader12Olivier Maingain
party12FDF
color12
last_election12new
seats122
percentage121.80%
leader13Mischaël Modrikamen
party13People's Party (Belgium)
last_election131
seats131
percentage131.50%
map2014 Belgium Chamber of Representatives election.svg
map_captionResults by constituency
titleFederal Government
before_electionDi Rupo Government
before_imageDi Rupo cropped.jpg
after_electionMichel I Government
after_imageCharles Michel (2018-01-31) (cropped).jpg

& Emily Hoyos

Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no longer directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippe's reign.

Date

As part of the state reform adopted 19 December 2013, the date of election will from now on coincide with the European elections, which the Council of the EU has scheduled for 22–25 May 2014. The regional elections in Belgium already constitutionally coincide with the European elections, consequently Belgians will vote for three elections on the same day.

On 25 April 2014, a declaration to amend the Constitution was adopted, formally dissolving parliament and triggering new elections within 40 days.

Electoral system

The 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives are elected in 11 multi-member constituencies, being the ten provinces and Brussels, with between 4 and 24 seats. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method, with an electoral threshold of 5% per constituency. Apportionment of seats is done every ten years, last by royal order of 31 January 2013, based on the population figures of 28 May 2012.

Representatives elected from the five Flemish Region provinces, Antwerp (24), East Flanders (20), Flemish Brabant (15), Limburg (12) and West Flanders (16), automatically belong to the Dutch-speaking language group in parliament, whereas those elected from the five provinces of Wallonia, Hainaut (18), Liège (15), Luxembourg (4), Namur (6) and Walloon Brabant (5), form the French-speaking language group. The 15 members elected in Brussels may choose to join either group, though de facto only French-speaking parties reach the threshold.

The 60-member Senate is composed of 50 representatives from the regional and community parliaments, plus 10 co-opted senators proportionally divided among parties based on the result of the federal election.

Voters

All Belgian citizens aged 18 or over are obligated to participate in the election. Foreigners residing in Belgium (regardless of EU citizenship) cannot vote, whereas Belgian citizens living abroad may register to vote. Following the sixth state reform, they can no longer freely choose in which constituency their vote counts; instead the municipality is objectively defined by statutory criteria. Since the previous elections were snap elections, there was more preparation time now, allowing for significantly increased use of the option compared to 2010.

The electoral roll was fixed per 1 March 2014.

20142010Difference
Eligible Belgians residing in Belgium7,879,8747,725,463
Eligible Belgians residing abroad128,90242,089
- voted in-person or by proxy in a municipality in Belgium20,2419,741
- voted in-person or by proxy in the Belgian diplomatic or consular post where they registered19,08013,089
- voted by mail89,58119,259
Total8,008,7767,767,552

151 Flemish municipalities and 2 Brussels municipalities voted electronically; the remaining 157 Flemish and 17 Brussels and all 262 Walloon municipalities voted by paper ballot.

Timetable

19 JuneConstitutive session of the newly elected Chamber of Representatives

Background and reforms since last election

Main article: 2010–2011 Belgian government formation, 2007–2011 Belgian political crisis, Sixth Belgian state reform

The previous 2010 election resulted in a victory for Flemish nationalist N-VA. The coalition formation stalemate went on for a record-breaking 541 days. Eventually, the negotiating parties agreed upon a sixth Belgian state reform and the Di Rupo Government was finally formed on 6 December 2011 and comprised PS, MR, CD&V, Open VLD, sp.a and cdH.

The state reform has the following consequences for the election in 2014:

  • The controversial electoral constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde no longer exists; rather, each province plus the federal capital now has its own constituency, and voter discrimination has been abolished.
  • The Senate will no longer be directly elected.
  • The term length will be increased from 4 years to 5 years, and the election will always coincide with the European Parliament election.

Election campaign

The campaign topics largely focused on socio-economic reforms: job creation and unemployment, tax reform, pensions, ... This campaign also featured an unprecedented level of quantified programmes by political parties. For example, the N-VA released its "V plan" and CD&V its "3D plan".

One week before the election day, former CD&V Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene suddenly died while in France. Several debates were cancelled, and CD&V as well as all other Flemish parties suspended their campaign for a few days.

Jewish Museum shooting

On 24 May, the day before the elections, a shooting occurred at the Belgian Jewish Museum in Brussels, with three people reported dead. Self-described anti-Zionist MP Laurent Louis suggested that the attack could be a false flag operation seeking to discredit him and his political party (Debout les Belges, or "Stand Up, Belgians") on the eve of the elections.

Political parties

The primary six Flemish political parties and their results for the House of Representatives (Kamer). From 1978 to 2014, in percentages for the complete 'Kingdom'.}}

Current situation

In 2010, ten parties won seats in the Belgian Senate: Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V), Centre Démocrate Humaniste (cdH), Socialistische Partij Anders (sp.a), Parti Socialiste (PS), Open Vld, Mouvement Réformateur (MR), Groen, Ecolo, New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and Vlaams Belang. In the Chamber of Representatives, the People's Party (PP) and Libertarian, Direct, Democratic (LDD) each also won one seat.

During the legislation, the Francophone Democratic Federalists (FDF) separated from the MR party and are now represented in the Chamber with 3 representatives, but have no Senators. The PP Member of Parliament left the party and became an independent. One Vlaams Belang member of the Chamber and one Vlaams Belang member of the Senate left their party and decided to become independents.

Thus, currently the ten major parties are represented in both the Chamber and the Senate; in addition, LDD and FDF are represented in the Chamber of Representatives.

However, most of the major parties only operate in the Dutch-speaking or in the French-speaking constituencies. Voters who live in the provinces of Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg or West Flanders can only vote for CD&V, Groen, N-VA, Open VLD, sp.a and Vlaams Belang, apart from the minor parties – except when a French-speaking party would present a list in one of these provinces, which has not happened except for a FDF and a PP list in Flemish Brabant. In the provinces of Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg, Namur and Walloon Brabant, voters can only vote for cdH, Ecolo, MR and PS, apart from the minor parties – except when a Dutch-speaking party would present a list in one of these provinces, which has not happened in this elections.

In the constituency of Liège, the German-speaking parties CSP, Ecolo, PFF and SP all form one list with their French-speaking counterparts; the name of these lists only mention the French-speaking party. Therefore, the CSP politicians are on the cdH list, the Ecolo ones on the Ecolo list, PFF on the MR list and SP on the PS list. The other German-speaking parties (ProDG and Vivant) do not present a list due to their marginal chance of getting a seat in Parliament.

In the constituency of Brussels-Capital, Ecolo and Groen formed one list under the name Ecolo. CD&V, N-VA, Open Vld, sp.a and Vlaams Belang will each present a single list.

LDD only presented a list in West Flanders. FDF presented a list in all Walloon constituencies, in Brussels-Capital and in Flemish Brabant. PVDA-PTB presented a list in all eleven constituencies of Belgium, making it one of the few parties which are represented in the whole of Belgium.

Main candidates

The following candidates are the first on the respective party list (lijsttrekker / tête de liste) per constituency.

Dutch-speaking constituencies

PartyAntwerpEast FlandersFlemish BrabantLimburg (Belgium)West FlandersBrussels
Major parties
Christian Democratic and Flemish}}; width:2px;"CD&VServais VerherstraetenPieter De CremKoen GeensWouter BekeHendrik Bogaert
Green!}}; width:2px;"GroenMeyrem AlmaciStefaan Van HeckeAnne DedryKatrijn ConjaertsWouter De Vriendt
New Flemish Alliance}}; width:2px;"N-VABart De WeverSiegfried BrackeTheo FranckenSteven VandeputBrecht Vermeulen
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats}}; width:2px;"Open VldAnnemie TurtelboomAlexander De CrooMaggie De BlockPatrick DewaelVincent Van Quickenborne
Socialist Party Differently}}; width:2px;"sp.aMonica De ConinckKarin TemmermanHans BontePeter Van VelthovenJohan Vande Lanotte
Flemish Interest}}; width:2px;"Vlaams BelangFilip DewinterBarbara PasPhilip ClaeysBert SchoofsPeter Logghe
Minor parties
List Dedecker}}; width:2px;"LDDJean-Marie Dedecker
Workers' Party (Belgium)}}; width:2px;"PVDA+Peter MertensTom De MeesterSander VandecapelleKim De WitteFilip Desmet
BUBVincent MassautBic VerbiestMarie-Luce LovinfosseTonnie BrichardMileen Verpoorten
Pirate PartyChristophe CopJonas De KoningJo Vols

French-speaking constituencies

PartyHainautLiègeLuxembourg (Belgium)NamurWalloon BrabantBrussels
Major parties
Humanist Democratic Centre}}; width:2px;"cdHCatherine FonckMelchior WatheletBenoît LutgenBenoît DispaCédric du Monceau
Ecolo}}; width:2px;"EcoloJean-Marc NolletMuriel GerkensCécile ThibautGeorges GilkinetMarcel Cheron
Francophone Democratic Federalists}}; width:2px;"FDFChristophe VerbistHugues LannoySerge SaintesMonique FelixAmaury Alexandre
Reformist Movement}}; width:2px;"MROlivier ChastelDaniel BacquelaineDominique TilmansSabine LaruelleCharles Michel
Socialist Party (francophone Belgium)}}; width:2px;"PSElio Di RupoWilly DemeyerPhilippe CourardJean-Marc DelizéeAndré Flahaut
Minor parties
Workers' Party (Belgium)}}; width:2px;"PTBMarco Van HeesRaoul HedebouwJonathan TaffarelThierry WarmoesLiza Lebrun
People's Party (Belgium)}}; width:2px;"PPMischaël ModrikamenAldo CarcaciMichel RenquinNathalie StrubbeMichaël Debast
BUBRomuald JolyNicolas JacqueminJo ConterAdrien MertensDimitri Parée
Pirate PartyPaul BossuPaul Thunissen

Opinion polling

The results of the opinion polls are usually split into separate numbers for the three Belgian regions. Below, they are transposed to national figures.

Date(s)
conductedNewspaperN-VAPSCD&VMRsp.aOpen VldVBCDHEcoloGroenOthersLead
15 April 2014La Libre Belgique20.6%10.2%10.7%8.4%8.5%8.7%6.4%3.7%3.9%4.9%14.0%9.9% over CD&V
11 October 2013De Standaard17.6%12.0%8.4%8.7%6.7%6.3%40.4%5.6% over CD&V
6 September 2013La Libre Belgique22.3%10.8%10.9%8.8%7.6%7.5%7.2%4.7%4.7%4.4%11.2%11.4% over CD&V
1 September 2013Le Soir19.3%11.3%10.8%8.7%8.0%8.9%7.5%4.5%4.3%4.0%12.5%8.0% over PS
16 June 2013Le Soir22.0%10.5%9.9%8.3%8.7%8.3%5.9%4.6%4.7%4.8%12.1%11.5% over PS
25 May 2013La Libre Belgique20.6%10.2%10.0%8.9%8.9%8.1%8.1%4.7%5.4%4.1%11.0%10.4% over PS
25 May 2013De Standaard20.2%10.9%9.3%6.4%6.7%6.0%40.5%9.3% over CD&V
24 March 2013Le Soir21.2%11.8%10.5%8.6%8.6%7.8%6.6%5.0%4.4%4.9%10.7%9.4% over PS
16 March 2013Het Laatste Nieuws21.0%9.4%8.5%7.5%7.0%5.2%41.4%11.6% over CD&V
22 February 2013La Libre Belgique24.3%10.8%8.8%9.0%9.3%6.2%4.2%4.6%4.7%5.4%12.7%13.5% over PS
14 October 2012Provincial election 201218.0%11.7%13.5%10.2%8.6%9.2%5.6%6.2%4.8%5.3%6.7%4.5% over CD&V
14 September 2012De Standaard22.6%11.5%9.0%6.7%5.9%4.9%39.4%11.1% over CD&V
10 June 2010Federal election 201017.4%13.7%10.8%9.3%9.2%8.6%7.8%5.5%4.8%4.4%8.4%3.7% over PS

Results

At the Flemish side, Vlaams Belang and LDD suffered major losses; their votes went to N-VA, which increased its position as largest party. CD&V, Open Vld and Groen gained slightly as well, while sp.a lost slightly.

At the French-speaking side, PS, cdH and Ecolo suffer losses while MR gained as well as newcomers PTB-GO! and FDF.

In detail

Dutch-speaking constituenciesBilingual constituencyPartyAntwerpEast FlandersFlemish BrabantLimburgWest FlandersBrusselsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsTotal1,141,541100.0024987,205100.0020679,125100.0015554,454100.0012807,929100.0016French-speaking constituenciesBilingual constituencyPartyHainautLiègeLuxembourgNamurWalloon BrabantBrusselsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsVotesPerc.SeatsTotal738,496100.0018601,826100.0015169,719100.004299,512100.006239,869100.005499,082100.0015
N-VA449,53139.3811306,30931.036192,69828.375174,03031.395230,26528.50613,2402.650
CD&V183,63616.094177,17817.954112,25116.533125,96222.723175,66921.7448,1931.640
OPEN VLD116,89210.242178,91118.124170,12825.05468,71312.392111,38813.79213,2942.660
SP.A132,09611.573131,60713.33381,25411.96298,19417.712142,40617.6339,6331.930
GROEN112,4779.85290,1449.13259,0968.70133,2446.00063,6577.881ECOLO
VL. BELANG79,8527.00261,5236.23128,8574.25034,0206.14038,2324.7305,1651.030
PTB/PVDA+51,6384.52026,2942.66012,6641.86014,2532.57013,3971.660PTB/PVDA–GO!
PS303,08541.049187,93430.00537,37322.02183,36127.83251,35921.411124,05324.865
MR153,30420.765158,06225.23541,34624.36184,78828.31297,74140.753115,04923.054
CDH76,81210.40281,78913.05256,70233.41248,13516.07126,33510.98046,5089.322
ECOLO43,4895.89156,9029.08113,4717.94029,1869.74127,35611.40152,14710.452
PTB/PVDA–GO!38,1945.17150,6098.0814,0032.36014,5594.8606,4492.69019,1423.840
FDF14,3821.95013,9172.2202,8111.6608,3672.79011,1984.67055,32311.082
PP32,1584.35032,2375.1516,9804.11013,0294.3509,5443.9808,6511.730

Senate

2014 marked the first year when the Senate was no longer directly elected, since the sixth state reform of 2011. Now, the regional parliaments elect 50 senators based on the results of the concurrent regional elections (the Flemish Parliament elects 29, the Parliament of the French Community elects ten, the Walloon Parliament elects eight, the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region elects two Francophone senators and the Parliament of the German-speaking Community elects one). The elected senators in turn co-opt 10 senators (six Dutch-speaking and four Francophone), making a total of 60 senators.

The distribution of seats among parties resulted as following:

Government formation

Main article: 2014 Belgian government formation

On 27 May, King Philippe nominated Bart De Wever (N-VA) as informateur, meaning he is tasked with finding enough points of agreement for a possible coalition.

After five months of discussions, a centre-right coalition of four parties (CD&V, Open Vld, MR and N-VA) came to agreement on 7 October with Walloon Charles Michel as prime minister. Yet it is a Flanders-focused coalition that excludes Socialists from the government for the first time in 26 years. Michel would be Belgium's youngest prime minister after the 28 hours of discussions over achieving a balanced budget by 2018. The announcement was made by party colleague and Budget Minister Olivier Chastel on Twitter: "Charles Michel becomes prime minister."

References

References

  1. "Europa bekrachtigt 25 mei als Belgische verkiezingsdatum". HLN.
  2. [http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/Politics/131220_State_reform_ok] {{webarchive. link. (6 June 2014)
  3. [http://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/dossier&LEG=5&NR=1750&LANG=nl Proposal for a revision of the Belgian Constitution], senate.be
  4. [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:169:0069:0069:EN:PDF COUNCIL DECISION 2013/299/EU, Euratom of 14 June 2013 fixing the period for the eighth election of representatives to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage], published on 21 June 2013 by the Official Journal of the European Union, L 169/69
  5. [http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/change_lg.pl?language=fr&la=F&cn=2014042502&table_name=loi 25 AVRIL 2014. - Déclaration de révision de la Constitution], Belgian Official Journal
  6. [http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2029_B.htm Electoral system] IPU
  7. (15 May 2014). "CD&V schort campagne op na overlijden van Dehaene". deredactie.be.
  8. (24 May 2014). "Three die in Brussels shooting at Jewish Museum". deredactie.be.
  9. Laurent Louis. (24 May 2014). "Facebook post by Laurent LOUIS".
  10. "Groen en Ecolo op één federale lijst in Brussel". deredactie.be.
  11. "Baromètre: La N-VA gagne 2.7% en Flandre!". Lalibre.be.
  12. "Le PS en net recul en Wallonie, la N-VA toujours loin devant en Flandre". les documents du Soir.
  13. "La N-VA perd du poids, le PS en petite forme".
  14. "N-VA krijgt een tik". De Standaard.
  15. "Grand baromètre: la N-VA recule de trois points". lesoir.be.
  16. "CD&V beperkt de schade". HLN.
  17. "Baromètre politique RTBF-La Libre: indécrottable N-VA". RTBF Info.
  18. "2012 Vlaanderenkiest". Vlaanderenkiest.be.
  19. [http://elections2012.wallonie.be] {{webarchive. link. (28 January 2016)
  20. "Open VLD op dieptepunt". De Standaard.
  21. [http://verkiezingen2010.belgium.be/nl/] {{webarchive. link. (9 July 2015)
  22. (26 May 2014). "N-VA goed voor één vijfde van de senatoren". De Standaard.
  23. (27 May 2014). "Bart De Wever nommé informateur par le Roi". LaLibre.be.
  24. "Belgium agrees to form coalition government". Deutsche Welle.
  25. "Belgium on course for government led by youngest PM". Uk.reuters.com.
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