| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Parlement fédéral - Federaal Parlement - Föderales Parlament / Federal Parliament |
| Structure of parliament |
Bicameral |
| Chamber name (generic / translated) |
Sénat - Senaat - Senat / Senate |
| Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments) |
Chambre des Représentants / House of Representatives
|
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
10 June 2007 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for all the elective seats in the Senate on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. |
On 17 January 2007
Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt called parliamentary elections for 10 June 2007. The House of Representatives and the Senate were officially dissolved on 2 May.
Belgium is a federal State comprising a 6 million-strong Dutch-speaking Flemish community in the north and some 4.5 million French speakers in the south. The capital
Brussels
is officially bilingual. In addition
there is a small German-speaking community
accounting for less than 1 per cent of the population.
Mr. Verhofstadt has led two coalition governments since 1999. His party at the time
the Liberal Party-Flemish (VLD)
is currently called the Open VLD. Following the previous elections held in May 2003
he formed a coalition government comprising two Flemish parties (VLD and the Flemish Socialist Party-Spirit - SPA-Spirit) and two French-speaking parties (the Movement for Reform (MR) and the Socialist Party (PS)). The coalition controlled 97 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives
and 45 of the 70 seats in the Senate.
This alliance was maintained for the 2007 election campaign. Mr. Verhofstadt called on voters' support for his government's economic policy
highlighting the 200
000 jobs that had been created over the past four years. However
his party and SPA-Spirit were reportedly losing ground in the Flemish community where their main rival
the Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V)-New Flemish Alliance (N-VA
led by Mr. Bart De Wever)
campaigned for more autonomy for the Flemish community.
The CD&V
led by the Minister-President of the Flemish Government
Mr. Yves Leterme
pledged to give more power to the regions (which are already responsible for public works
transport
agriculture and the environment)
in particular in the areas of labour policy
justice and health.
Other main Flemish parties were the List Dedecker
formed by Senator Jean-Marie Dedecker in January 2007
which promised to defend the interests of the Flemish community; and the Vlaams Belang. The latter was founded in November 2004 by former leaders of the Vlaams Block
a far-right party advocating Flemish independence. It won 18 seats in the 2003 elections but was convicted of "repeated incitement to discrimination" by the High Court and disbanded in November 2004.
In Wallonia
the PS
led by Mr. Elio Di Rupo
was reportedly losing ground to the MR. The MR leader
Mr. Didier Reyders
a strong advocate of a free market economy
said he would seek a coalition government with the CD&V and the Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH
formerly known as the Christian Social Party).
Voting being compulsory
turnout has been traditionally high in Belgium. In the 2007 elections
91.08 per cent of the 7.7 million registered voters turned out at the polls.
As in the previous elections
no party secured a majority in either chamber of parliament. The CD&V-N-VA won 30 seats in the House of Representatives and nine of the 40 directly elected seats in the Senate to become the largest party in both chambers. The MR came in second winning 23 and six seats respectively
which made it the largest French-speaking party for the first time. The other parties in Prime Minister Verhofstadt's coalition government suffered major setbacks. The Open VLD won 18 seats (down from 25) in the House and five in the Senate. The SPA-Spirit took 14 (down from 23) and 3 respectively. Prime Minister Verhofstadt conceded defeat and submitted his resignation to King Albert II on 11 June.
On 28 June
the members of the House of Representatives were sworn in alongside the 40 directly elected senators. House of Representatives did not elect its new speaker on 28 June. Finally
on 12 July
it chose Mr. Herman Van Rompuy (CD&V-N-VA) as its new Speaker.
On 5 July
21 senators designated by the Community Parliaments (see note 1) took office
while 10 co-opted members (see note 2) were sworn in on 12 July. On the same day
the Senate elected Mr. Armand De Decker (MR
former Senate President between 1999 and 2004) as its President.
In the meantime
on 12 June
the King appointed the leader of the MR
Mr. Didier Reynders
as the Informateur
whose role is to clarify the political landscape and inform the King of possible government coalitions. On 16 July
King Albert II appointed Mr. Yves Leterme (CD&V) as the Formateur
tasked with forming a new government. However
the coalition talks involving the CD&V-N-VA
the Open VLD
the MR
and the CDH were unsuccessful and Mr. Leterme resigned as Formateur on 23 August. On 29 September
the King re-appointed him as Formateur. On 7 November
the country marked its 149th day without a government
breaking the previous record for the longest period without a government set in 1988.
On 21 December
an emergency interim government comprising five parties (Open VLD
MR
CD&V
PS and CDH) led by Mr. Verhofstadt was finally formed. It won a vote of confidence on 23 December
ending the 196 day period without a government. It was tasked with passing the 2008 budget before 23 March 2008.
Note 1:
Ten senators each are designated by the Parliament of the French Community (Communauté française) and the Flemish Parliament (Vlaams Parlement)
while the Parliament of the German-speaking Community nominates one member
bringing the total number of designated senators to 21.
Note 2:
Six Dutch-speaking members and four French-speaking members were co-opted. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 10 June 2007 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
7'720'796
7'032'384 (91.08%)
404'257
6'628'127 |
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of votes |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Candidates |
Votes |
|
|
% |
|
|
| Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) - New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) |
|
|
|
|
19.42 |
|
|
| Movement for Reform (MR) |
|
|
|
|
12.31 |
|
|
| Open vld |
|
|
|
|
12.40 |
|
|
| Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) |
|
|
|
|
11.89 |
|
|
| Socialist Party (PS) |
|
|
|
|
10.24 |
|
|
| Flemish Socialist Party - Spirit (SPA-Spirit) |
|
|
|
|
10.04 |
|
|
| Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) |
|
|
|
|
5.90 |
|
|
| Greens - Walloon (Ecolo) |
|
|
|
|
5.82 |
|
|
| Greens - Flamands (GROEN!) |
|
|
|
|
3.64 |
|
|
| Dedecker List |
|
|
|
|
3.38 |
|
|
| National Front (FN) |
|
|
|
|
2.27 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
Directly elected |
Gain/Loss |
Designated |
Co-opted |
| Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) - New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) |
14
|
9 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
| Movement for Reform (MR) |
11
|
6 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| Open vld |
9
|
5 |
-2 |
2 |
2 |
| Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) |
8
|
5 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
| Socialist Party (PS) |
8
|
4 |
-2 |
3 |
1 |
| Flemish Socialist Party - Spirit (SPA-Spirit) |
7
|
4 |
-3 |
2 |
1 |
| Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) |
5
|
2 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
| Greens - Walloon (Ecolo) |
5
|
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
| Greens - Flamands (GROEN!) |
2
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Dedecker List |
1
|
1 |
|
0 |
0 |
| National Front (FN) |
1
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
48
23
32.39%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
|
|
| Comments |
Sources:
- http://elections2007.belgium.be/
- Senate (16.07.2007
01.01.2010)
Note on distribution of seats according to sex:
Twelve women were directly elected on 10 June 2007. In July
seven women were designated by the Community Councils
while four women were co-opted
thus bringing the total number of women to 23.
Certain directly-elected male senators were replaced by their female substitutes
so there are 16 women among the 40 directly-elected senators as at 16 July. The total number of women has thus risen to 27 (Senate
16.07.2007).
|
Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Last elections module
