General elections were held in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
on 13 October 1985. The
Christian People's Party emerged as the largest party, with 49 of the 212 seats in the
Chamber of Representatives and 25 of the 106 seats in the
Senate. Elections to the nine
provincial councils were also held.
The incumbent government was a coalition of Christian democrats (CVP/PSC) and liberals (PVV/PRL) led by Prime Minister
Wilfried Martens
Wilfried Achiel Emma Martens (; 19 April 1936 – 9 October 2013) was a Belgian politician who served as prime minister of Belgium from 1979 to 1981 and from 1981 to 1992. A member of the Flemish Christian People's Party, during his premiership ...
. Following the elections, the same parties formed a new Martens Government.
Guy Verhofstadt, PVV leader since 1982, was elected for the first time as representative. Despite PVV being the only governing party to lose seats, he was able to weigh on the government agreement and he became Deputy Prime Minister in the Martens VI Government. The government would fall two years later due to the
Voeren
Voeren (; ) is a Flemish Dutch-speaking municipality with facilities for the French-speaking minority, located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Bordering the Netherlands to the north and the Wallonia region's Liège Province () to the sou ...
issue; distrust of labour unions in Verhofstadt proved to be a factor as well.
Results
Chamber of Deputies
Senate
References
{{Belgian elections
1985 elections in Belgium
October 1985 events in Europe
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...