General elections were held in
Belgium on 11 April 1954. The dominant
Christian Social Party won 95 of the 212 seats in the
Chamber of Representatives and 49 of the 106 seats in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. Voter turnout was 93.2%.
[Nohlen & Stöver, p291] Elections for the nine
provincial
Provincial may refer to:
Government & Administration
* Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country
* Provincial city (disambiguation)
* Provincial minister (disambiguation)
* Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...
councils were also held.
The outgoing Catholic government led by
Jean Van Houtte
Jean (Jan) Marie Joseph, Baron Van Houtte (17 March 1907 – 23 May 1991) was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1952 to 1954.
Born in Ghent, van Houtte held a doctorate in law and lectured at Ghent Univer ...
lost their majority in parliament. The two other main parties, the Socialist and Liberal Party, subsequently formed a rare "purple" government with
Achille Van Acker as Prime Minister. Both parties had an
anti-clerical agenda and aimed to reverse policies of the Catholic government regarding private schools. This would become known as the
Second School War
The Second School War (french: Deuxième guerre scolaire, nl, Tweede schoolstrijd) was a political crisis in Belgium over the issue of religion in education. The conflict lasted between 1950 and 1959 and was ended by a cross-party agreement, know ...
.
Results
Chamber of Deputies
Senate
References
{{Belgian elections
1954 elections in Belgium
April 1954 events in Europe