ELECTIONS HELD IN (YEAR)
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| Chamber: | |
| Sénat - Senaat - Senat | |
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| 18 May 2003 | |
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| Elections were held for all the seats in the Senate on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. | |
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| In the May 2003 elections, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's centre-left coalition of six parties - the Flemish and French-speaking Liberal Parties (VLD and MR), Socialist Parties (SP and PS) and Greens (Agalev and Ecolo) - was primarily opposed by the Christian Social Parties (CV&P, Flemish and PSC, French-speaking) and far-right parties (Vlaams Blok and National Front).
Ten days before polling day, the French-speaking Green Party quit the coalition in a row over night flights over Brussels. The Dutch-speaking Flemish region in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in the south both wanted the flights routed over the other community. The electoral campaign mainly focused on economic issues like tax cuts. With economic growth sluggish and unemployment high, Mr. Verhofstadt vowed to keep cutting taxes and reform state bureaucracy and an overburdened judiciary. He urged voters to judge his coalition on its handling of public finances and the economy, i.e. cutting taxes while balancing the budget for three years and reducing Europe's second highest per capita national debt. During the four years in government, the coalition had passed some of the world's most progressive social legislation, legalising gay marriage and euthanasia. The Flemish right-far Vlaams Blok, which wants Flemish independence, campaigned for zero tolerance on crime and ending immigration. It expected to improve its score in Antwerp, the country's second city, where Muslim immigrants clashed with police in November 2002 after a white Belgian man shot dead a Muslim teacher. Some 7.5 million citizens were called to the poll. Despite the country's compulsory voting system, it was reported that up to 10 per cent of voters abstained from casting ballots in certain areas. Compulsory voting dates back to 1893 in Belgium, one of a handful of countries (Luxembourg, Australia, Cyprus and Uruguay) with such laws, but abstention has been rising in the last years. The four liberal and socialist parties all won votes and seats in the Senate. The Socialists scored the biggest gains, winning 8 additional seats. They constitute the leading political force in the Senate, both in terms of votes and seats, in both the French and Dutch electoral colleges. The gains made by the SP.A are due largely to its coalition with Spirit. The Liberals also made strides, albeit to a lesser extent, winning two new seats. Together, these four parties obtained 45 of the 71 seats in the Senate. The two Christian-Socialists parties saw their votes decline and lost a seat a piece in the Senate. The popularity of the Greens, which formed part of the outgoing coalition, collapsed. Agalev lost its 5 seats in the Senate and Ecolo 4 out of 6 seats. The Vlaams Blok recorded its best score in its 25 years of existence, with a record performance of 17.9% in Flanders and two new seats. In Wallonia, the National Front obtained 6% of votes, in spite of a virtually invisible campaign boycotted by the public service channels, and made its entrance into the Senate. On 9 July 2003, the Liberal Party and the Socialist Party agreed to renew their coalition in government with Mr. Guy Verhofstadt as Prime Minister. |
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STATISTICS
| Round no 1 (18 May 20039: Elections results | |
| Number of registered electors | 7 570 637 |
| Voters | 6 934 605 (92 %) |
| Blank or invalid ballot papers | 383 093 |
| Valid votes | 6 551 512 |
| Round no 1: Distribution of votes | |||
| Political Group | Votes | % | |
| Socialist Party (SPA-Spirit) - Flemish | 1 013 560 | 15.5 | |
| Liberal Party (VLD) - Flemish | 1 007 868 | 15.4 | |
| Socialist Party (PS)) - Francophone | 840 908 | 12.8 | |
| Christian Democratic (CDV) - Flemish | 832 849 | 12.7 | |
| Movement for Reform (MR) - Francophone | 795 757 | 12.2 | |
| Vlaams Blok - Flemish | 741 940 | 11.3 | |
| Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) - Francophone | 362 705 | 5.5 | |
| Greens (Ecolo) - Francophone | 208 868 | 3.2 | |
| National Front (FN) - Francophone | 147 305 | 2.3 | |
| Round no 1: Distribution of seats | |||
| Political Group | Total | Gain/Loss | |
| Socialist Party (SPA-Spirit) - Flemish | 12 | +6 | |
| Liberal Party (VLD) - Flemish | 12 | +1 | |
| Socialist Party (PS) - Francophone | 11 | +2 | |
| Christian Democratic (CDV) - Flemish | 9 | -1 | |
| Movement for Reform (MR) - Francophone | 10 | +1 | |
| Vlaams Blok - Flemish | 8 | +2 | |
| Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) - Francophone | 4 | -1 | |
| Greens (Ecolo) - Francophone | 2 | -4 | |
| National Front (FN) - Francophone | 2 | +2 | |
| Comments: | |
| The seat of the Senator of the German Speaking Community is not included in the table. The CDH is the new name of the former Social Christian Party (PSC) The CDV is the new name of the former Christian People's Party (CVP) The MR is the new name of the former Liberal Party - Walloon (PRL-FDF) |
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| Distribution of seats according to sex: | |
| Men: | 49 |
| Women: | 22 |
| Percent of women: | 30.99 |
| Distribution of seats according to age: | ||
| 21 to 30 years: | 2 | |
| 31 to 40 years: | 6 | |
| 41 to 50 years: | 24 | |
| 51 to 60 years: | 28 | |
| 61 to 70 years: | 11 | |
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| Liberal professions: | 19 | |
| Teachers: | 17 | |
| Managers: | 13 | |
| Private sector employees: | 8 | |
| Civil servants (incl. former): | 7 | |
| Self-employed: | 5 | |
| Journalists/writers/publishers: | 1 | |
| Non-professionals: | 1 | |
Copyright © 2003 Inter-Parliamentary Union