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Elections in Belgium are organised for legislative bodies only, and not for executive functions. Direct elections take place for the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
, the Chamber of Representatives, the Parliaments of the Regions, the Parliaments of the Communities, the provincial councils, the municipal councils and the councils of
Districts of Antwerp The Belgian city of Antwerp consists of nine former municipalities (called '' deelgemeenten'') which have the special status of district. # Antwerp # Berchem # Berendrecht-Zandvliet-Lillo # Borgerhout # Deurne # Ekeren # Hoboken # Merksem # ...
. Voting is mandatory and all elections use
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
which in general requires
coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
s. The method of election, the elected bodies, and the political party system have changed drastically since the founding of Belgium in 1830. At first, there were only municipal, provincial and national elections with only few people being able to vote on the national level. Over time,
voting right Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to ...
s were extended and eventually made compulsory. In the second half the 20th century, political parties split along linguistic lines and the number of parties increased. In 1979, the European Parliament became a directly elected supranational body and as a result of the federalisation of the country, the Communities and Regions of Belgium also got their own legislatures which have been directly elected since 1993.


Organisation of elections

The Federal Government is responsible for organising all non-local elections, being the elections for the community and regional parliaments, the federal parliament and the European Parliament in Belgium. The Elections Directorate of the
Federal Public Service Interior The FPS Interior ( nl, FOD Binnenlandse Zaken, french: SPF Intérieur, german: FÖD Inneres), formerly the Ministry of the Interior, is a Federal Public Service of Belgium. It was created by Royal Order on January 14, 2002, as part of the plans ...
is tasked with this. Since 2001, the Regional Governments (Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia) are responsible for organising all local elections, being the elections for the municipal councils, provincial councils, district councils and OCMW/CPAS councils. In Flanders, the Local Government Agency (''Agentschap Binnenlands Bestuur'') is tasked with this, while objections go to the Council for Election Disputes (''Raad voor Verkiezingsbetwistingen'').


Election method

Belgium has a
multi-party In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coa ...
system, with numerous
political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form
coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
s. Several months before an election, each party forms a list of candidates for each district. Parties are allowed to place as many candidates on their "ticket" as there are seats available. The formation of the list is an internal process that varies with each party. The place on the list influences the election of a candidate, but its influence has diminished since the last electoral reform. Political campaigns in Belgium are relatively short, lasting only about one month, and there are restrictions on the use of
billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
s. For all of their activities, campaigns included, the political parties have to rely on government subsidies and dues paid by their members. Since no single party holds an absolute majority, after the election the strongest party or party family will usually create a coalition with some of the other parties to form the government. Voting was compulsory in Belgium, with more than 90% of the population participating. In 2021, voting for the local elections (municipal and province) was made voluntary from the 2024 elections. Belgian voters are given five options when voting. They may— * Vote for a list as a whole, thereby showing approval of the order established by the party they vote for * Vote for one or more individual candidates belonging to one party, regardless of his or her ranking on the list. This is a "preference vote" * Vote for one or more of the "alternates (substitutes)" * Vote for one or more candidates, and one or more alternates, all of the same party * Vote invalid or blank so no one receives the vote Voting in Belgium is done by paper voting or
electronic voting Electronic voting (also known as e-voting) is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting ballots. Depending on the particular implementation, e-voting may use standalone ''electronic voting machines'' ( ...
on a computer depending on the place of voting. A few weeks before the actual election, every Belgian older than 18 receives a voting card with the details of where and when to vote. The voting cards are sent by the
municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
administration to all of the municipality's inhabitants based on the national population register. Voting bureaus are usually in schools. On polling day, always a Sunday, a volunteer at the voting bureau checks the voter in. After taking the voter's electronic identity card and voting card, the volunteer issues a magnetic card to operate the voting machine. After the voter has finished, the volunteer verifies that the magnetic card was used to cast a valid vote, then returns the voter's ID and voting card, now stamped as proof of having voted.


Voters

Voters are Belgian citizens over the age of 18 and residing in Belgium. They are automatically registered on the
electoral roll An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is usually broke ...
s on reaching the age of 18 and are subject to
compulsory voting Compulsory voting, also called mandatory voting, is the requirement in some countries that eligible citizens register and vote in elections. Penalties might be imposed on those who fail to do so without a valid reason. According to the CIA World F ...
. EU citizens aged 18 or older may register to vote in Belgium for European and municipal elections, a right established by European treaties. Non-EU citizens may register to vote in Belgium for municipal elections only, if living in Belgium for at least five years; this right was introduced in 2004 after extensive political debate. Belgian citizens living abroad may register to vote in a diplomatic or consular post in their country of residence, to vote for European and federal elections. For all of these groups, registration is not compulsory, but once registered, the person is theoretically subject to compulsory voting. The law of 17 November 2016 extended the right to vote for European Parliament elections to Belgians living in a non-EU member state. On 26 August 2016, the
cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...
also approved to extend the right to vote for Belgians living abroad in regional elections; however, this change is subject to approval by special majority in parliament, causing the measure to stall. Proposals to grant the right to vote from 16 years old for municipal elections were voted down, respectively in Flanders in 2017 and in Wallonia in 2018. In 2021, voting for the municipal and provincial elections was made voluntary, starting from the 2024 elections.


Levels of election


European elections

Belgian voters elect 21 members to the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
. This number gradually decreased following the accession of new member states to the European Union, the latest being Croatia in 2013. Direct elections have taken place since 1979. There are three
constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
, organised by linguistic community: Since the abolishment of direct elections to the Senate in 2014, these elections are the only ones with community-wide lists, as elections to the Chamber of Representatives use provincial lists. Inhabitants of the six
municipalities with language facilities There are 27 municipalities with language facilities ( nl, faciliteitengemeenten; french: communes à facilités; german: Fazilitäten-Gemeinden) in Belgium which must offer linguistic services to residents in Dutch, French, or German in addit ...
in the Brussels Periphery (
Drogenbos Drogenbos (; ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality only comprises the town of Drogenbos proper. On January 1, 2018, Drogenbos had a total population of 5,599. The total area is 2.49 km² ( ...
, Kraainem,
Linkebeek Linkebeek (; ) is a Belgian municipality in Flanders, part of the province of Flemish Brabant, and in the administrative district of Halle-Vilvoorde. The municipality only comprises the town of Linkebeek proper. As of 1 January 2006, Linkebeek ...
, Sint-Genesius-Rode,
Wemmel Wemmel (; ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality only comprises the town of Wemmel proper. On January 1, 2018, Wemmel had a total population of 16,347. The total area is 8.74 km² which giv ...
and
Wezembeek-Oppem Wezembeek-Oppem is a municipality in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, east of the centre of Brussels. The municipality only comprises the town of Wezembeek-Oppem proper. On January 1, 2016, Wezembeek-Oppem had a total population of 14,0 ...
) can opt to vote for French-speaking lists despite being in the Dutch language area, per article 168bis of the Belgian Constitution.


Federal elections

Belgium elects its
bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single gr ...
federal legislature, the Federal Parliament (''Federaal Parlement/Parlement fédéral/Föderales Parlament''). * The Chamber of Representatives (''Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers/Chambre des Représentants/Abgeordnetenkammer'') consists of 150 members, each elected for a five-year term by
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
. Prior to the 1993 state reform, it had 212 members. * 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 ...
(''Senaat/Sénat/Senat'') has 60 members, of which 50 are appointed by the community and regional parliaments, and 10 are co-opted (i.e., appointed by the other senators). Before 2014 (due to the
sixth Belgian state reform The sixth state reform in the federal kingdom of Belgium is the result after the 2010–2011 Belgian government formation, with 541 days of negotiations, the longest ever in Belgium and possibly the world. The agreement was made among the Christi ...
) the Senate had 71 members, of which 40 were directly elected. Elections for the Federal Parliament are normally held every five years, coinciding with the European (and consequently also regional) elections. Early elections are possible, after which the legislature lasts until the next European election. Before the
sixth Belgian state reform The sixth state reform in the federal kingdom of Belgium is the result after the 2010–2011 Belgian government formation, with 541 days of negotiations, the longest ever in Belgium and possibly the world. The agreement was made among the Christi ...
, the term was four years without any link to the other elections. There are eleven constituencies coinciding with the ten provinces and the
Brussels-Capital Region Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. Previous to 2012, Brussels formed together with half of the province of
Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( nl, Vlaams-Brabant ; french: Brabant flamand ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hain ...
the
Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde The area within Belgium known as Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde encompasses the bilingual—French and Dutch— Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides with the arrondissement of Brussels-Capital and the surrounding Dutch-speaking area of Halle-Vilv ...
constituency. Number of seats by constituency:


Regional elections

Since the 1993 state reform, the Parliaments of the federated entities ( Communities and Regions) are directly elected with elections always coinciding with European Parliament elections (thus with fixed terms of five years). Previously, these Parliaments consisted of the federal representatives elected in the respective region. The
Flemish Parliament The Flemish Parliament ( Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic region and as a cultural commu ...
, Walloon Parliament, the
Brussels Regional Parliament The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) ( French: ''Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale'', Dutch: ''Parlement van het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gew ...
and the Parliament of the German-speaking Community are directly elected. The Parliament of the French Community consists of all members of the Walloon Parliament as well as 19 members chosen by the French-speaking members of the Brussels Regional Parliament.


Local elections

Starting with the 2006 local elections, these elections are organised by the three Regions (
Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
,
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
and
Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...
). These elections still coincide, with legislatures of 6 years. The last local elections were the October 2018 elections.


Provincial elections

The
Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
and Walloon Region both have five
provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
each. These ten have directly elected provincial councils. Both regions decreased the number of provincial councillors starting with the 2012 elections.


Municipal elections

All three regions have
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
with municipal councils. Unlike all other levels, the seats in the municipal councils are apportioned using the
Imperiali method A highest-averages method, also called a divisor method, is a class of methods for allocating seats in a parliament among agents such as political parties or federal states. A divisor method is an iterative method: at each iteration, the number o ...
, which slightly favours larger parties to ensure more stable coalitions.


District elections

The largest cities in Belgium have the possibility of installing urban districts. Only the city of
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
made use of this, which consequently has nine districts with their own directly elected district councils in addition to the municipal council of Antwerp.


Vote counting and seat attribution

The objective of elections in Belgium is to elect the members or a legislative council, from the Chamber of Representatives of the Federal Parliament to the local municipal council. The Belgian system does not elect members of the executive or the judicial branch. Vote counting is a very serious matter, to prevent voter fraud (that was committed in the early days of Belgian democracy). The objective of vote counting in Belgium's proportional system is to attribute a number of seats to candidates of different parties. 2 attribution calculation systems are in place, unlike all other levels, the seats in the municipal councils are attributed using the
Imperiali method A highest-averages method, also called a divisor method, is a class of methods for allocating seats in a parliament among agents such as political parties or federal states. A divisor method is an iterative method: at each iteration, the number o ...
, while in all supra-local elections where the jurisdiction of the legislative council covers more than one electoral district (like the provincial, regional, federal or European elections) the
D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highes ...
is used. These systems are however made more complex by the use of different types of votes such as list or party vote, a single nominal vote or a compounded nominal vote, and a vote transfers between candidates of party using
Imperiali quota The Imperiali quota is a formula used to calculate the minimum number, or quota, of votes required to capture a seat in some forms of single transferable vote or largest remainder method party-list proportional representation voting systems. ...
or STV.


Referendums

Binding
referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...
s in Belgium are not legally possible because of the constitutional principle that the country's powers are exercised by the nation and not by the people. Consequently, Belgium is a
representative democracy Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...
, almost without any form of
direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are repres ...
. The Constitution did neither allow for non-binding referendums, but in 1950 a referendum was organised anyway with the question whether King Leopold III should return to the throne. There were large regional differences in the results, and no national referendum has been held ever since. In the 1990s though, new laws and eventually a constitutional amendment allowed for non-binding referendums on the municipal and provincial level. A 2005 constitutional change made the Regions responsible for these local referendums. They are however still rarely organised. The
sixth Belgian state reform The sixth state reform in the federal kingdom of Belgium is the result after the 2010–2011 Belgian government formation, with 541 days of negotiations, the longest ever in Belgium and possibly the world. The agreement was made among the Christi ...
of 2011 foresees a constitutional change to allow for regional referendums as well; this has however not yet been done as of 2013.


Past elections

The latest federal elections took place on 26 May 2019.


Evolution of election results


Results

: Flemish elections


See also

* Electronic voting in Belgium *
Political parties in Belgium This article contains a list of political parties in Belgium. Belgium is a federal state with a multi-party political system, with numerous parties who factually have no chance of gaining power alone, and therefore must work with each other to ...
* Political parties in Flanders * List of elections in Belgium *
Electoral calendar This national electoral calendar for 2022 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2022 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January * 16 January: Se ...
*
Electoral system An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections m ...


External links

* Belgian Election Databas
in Dutch
an


Adam Carr's Election Archive

NSD: European Election Database - Belgium
publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1991-2010
Flemish election results
Flemish government {{DEFAULTSORT:Elections In Belgium