Belgian general election, 2014
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Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas 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 ...
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 Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...
,Proposal for a revision of the Belgian Constitution
senate.be which the
Council of the EU The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...
has scheduled for 22–25 May 2014. The
regional elections in Belgium In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
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. 25 AVRIL 2014. - Déclaration de révision de la Constitution
Belgian Official Journal


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 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,
(24), East Flanders (20),
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, Haina ...
(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 Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
(15), Luxembourg (4),
Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...
(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 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 ...
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. 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


Background and reforms since last election

The previous 2010 election resulted in a victory for
Flemish nationalist The Flemish Movement ( nl, Vlaamse Beweging) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promo ...
N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( nl, Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium. The party was founded in 2001 by the right-leaning fraction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). T ...
. 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 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 ...
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 Jean Luc Joseph Marie "Jean-Luc" Dehaene (; 7 August 1940 – 15 May 2014) was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1992 until 1999. During his political career, he was nicknamed "The Plumber" and "The Minesweep ...
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 Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...
MP
Laurent Louis Laurent Louis (born 29 February 1980) is a French-speaking Belgian politician, former member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, and a Holocaust denier. He is known for anti-semitic speeches and actions, Holocaust denial, and for spreadi ...
suggested that the attack could be a
false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misr ...
operation seeking to discredit him and his political party (''Debout les Belges'', or "Stand Up, Belgians") on the eve of the elections.


Political parties


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 Libertarian, Direct, Democratic ( nl, Libertair, Direct, Democratisch; LDD) is a conservative-liberal, libertarian, right-wing populist Flemish political party in Belgium. The party surprised commentators by winning five seats in the Chamber and ...
(LDD) each also won one seat. During the legislation, the
Francophone Democratic Federalists French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the la ...
(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 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,
, East Flanders,
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, Haina ...
, 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 Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
, Luxembourg,
Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...
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 Vivant is a small social-liberal political party in Belgium founded by millionaire Roland Duchâtelet. In the regional elections in June 2004, the party formed a strategic alliance with the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD). Both parties are ...
) 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.


Flemish-speaking constituencies


French-speaking constituencies


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.


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


Government formation

On 27 May, King Philippe nominated Bart De Wever (N-VA) as ''
informateur A formateur (French for "someone who forms, who constitutes") is a politician who is appointed to lead the formation of a coalition government, after either a general election or the collapse of a previous government. The role of the formateur i ...
'', 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 Olivier Chastel (born 22 November 1964, in Liège) is a Belgian pharmacist and politician of the Liberal Party "Mouvement Réformateur" (MR) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. Early life and education After ...
on Twitter: "Charles Michel becomes prime minister."


References


External links


2014 elections
belgium.be {{Belgian elections 2014 elections in Belgium May 2014 events in Europe Federal elections in Belgium