Belgian Federal Elections
AS OF 2026-07-22 · 76 CONTESTS · federal election, 9 June 2024 · WIKIPEDIA, NATIONAL ELECTORAL AUTHORITIES
Next election · federal election, expected 2029 · Capital · Brussels in the metro rankings →
Where the chamber sits · 5.2 of 10, left to right, spread 2.5 →
Every Belgian general and federal election from 1831 to 2024: the censitaire kingdom's Catholic–Liberal duels, plural voting, the arrival of one man one vote, the linguistic fracture that split every party in two, and the record-breaking coalition deadlocks of the federal era.
Elections
76
1831–2024
Latest
2024
N-VA largest · Bart De Wever
Formation record
541 days
the post-2010 deadlock, a world record
Party systems
2
one Dutch-speaking, one French-speaking, since 1968–78
The chronology
Every election, newest first, era by era. Click any election for the full result and the story.
The federal era · 1995–2024
The first elections of federal Belgium settled into a new pattern: fragmented chambers, Flemish nationalism as the largest force, and record-breaking coalition formations — 541 days without a government after 2010, 494 after 2019. The 2024 election made Bart De Wever, the N-VA leader once committed to Belgium's dissolution, its prime minister.
N-VA 24Vlaams Belang 20MR 20others 9
New Flemish Alliance 25Vlaams Belang 18Christian Democratic and Flemish 12others 63
N-VA 33PS 23MR 20others 7
N-VA 27PS 26MR 18others 8
CD&V–N-VA 30MR 23PS 20others 8
VLD 25PS 25MR 24others 4
Flemish Liberals and Democrats 23Christian People's Party 22Parti Socialiste 19others 18
Christian People's Party 29Flemish Liberals and Democrats 21Parti Socialiste 21others 12
The linguistic fracture · 1971–1991
Every election now ran on two separate party systems, one Dutch-speaking and one French-speaking, with community parties surging and successive state reforms federalising the country step by step. Governments took months to build and fell over language as often as economics.
Christian People Party 39Parti Socialiste 35Socialistische Partij 28others 24
Christian People's Party 43Parti Socialiste 40Socialistische Partij 32others 8
Christian People's Party 49CVP 49Parti Socialiste 35
Christian People's Party 43CVP 43Parti Socialiste 35
Christian People's Party 57CVP 57Belgian Socialist Party (Wallonia) 31
CVP 56Christian People's Party 28cdH 24
Belgian Socialist Party 59Christian People's Party 50CVP 50
Belgian Socialist Party 57Christian People's Party 40Party for Freedom and Progress 34
The Belgian compromise · 1946–1968
Women voted from 1949. The postwar decades ran on grand bargains — the royal question that nearly split the country in 1950, the school pact of 1958 — until language conflict did what class conflict had not: from 1968 the three great national parties began breaking into Flemish and francophone halves.
Christian Social Party 69Belgian Socialist Party 59Party for Freedom and Progress 47
Christian Social Party 77Belgian Socialist Party 64Party for Freedom and Progress 48
Christian Social Party 96Belgian Socialist Party 84Liberal Party 20
Christian Social Party 104Belgian Socialist Party 80Liberal Party 20
Christian Social Party 95Belgian Socialist Party 82Liberal Party 24
Christian Social Party 108Belgian Socialist Party 73Liberal Party 20
Christian Social Party 105Belgian Socialist Party 66Liberal Party 29
Christian Social Party 92Belgian Socialist Party 69Communist Party of Belgium 23
One man, one vote · 1919–1939
Equal male suffrage arrived in 1919 and ended the Catholic majority at a stroke. The interwar chambers were governed by shifting Catholic–Liberal–Socialist combinations, shaken in 1936 by the fascist Rex and the Flemish nationalists — Belgium's parliament on the eve of catastrophe.
Catholic Party 67Belgian Labour Party 64Liberal Party 33others 7
Belgian Labour Party 70Catholic Party 61Liberal Party 23
Catholic Party 79Belgian Labour Party 73Liberal Party 24
Catholic Party 71Belgian Labour Party 70Liberal Party 28
Belgian Labour Party 78Catholic Party 78Liberal Party 23
Catholic Party 78Belgian Labour Party 68Liberal Party 33
Belgian Labour Party 70Catholic Party 70Liberal Party 34
Catholic Party 41Belgian Labour Party 26Liberal Party 20
Plural voting · 1894–1913
The general strike of 1893 won universal male suffrage, but with a catch: fathers of family and property owners cast up to three votes each. The newly enfranchised working class made the Belgian Workers' Party the second force overnight, yet the weighted franchise kept the Catholic Party in absolute majority for two decades straight.
Catholic Party 101Liberal–Socialist kartels 45Liberal Party 21
Catholic Party 49Liberal–Socialist kartels 17Liberal Party 15
Catholic Party 37Liberal Party 21Belgian Labour Party 19
Catholic Party 41Liberal Party 15Liberal–Socialist kartels 12
Catholic Party 38Liberal Party 22Belgian Labour Party 19
Catholic Party 54Liberal Party 20Belgian Labour Party 10
Catholic Party 86Belgian Labour Party 32Liberal Party 31
Catholic Party 36Belgian Labour Party 15Liberal Party 12
Catholic Party 72Liberal–Socialist kartels 4Liberal Party 1
Catholic Party 102Belgian Labour Party 27Liberal Party 17
The censitaire kingdom · 1831–1892
The new kingdom's parliament was chosen by the roughly one per cent of Belgians who paid enough tax to vote. Politics was a two-party duel between Catholics and Liberals — fought over schools above all — with partial renewals every two years and power alternating between the same narrow elites.
Catholic Party 92Liberal Party 60
Liberal Party 40Catholic Party 29
Catholic Party 66Liberal Party 3
Liberal Party 37Catholic Party 32
Catholic Party 67Liberal Party 2
Liberal Party 49Catholic Party 20
Catholic Party 40Liberal Party 26
Liberal Party 48Catholic Party 18
Catholic Party 42Liberal Party 21
Liberal Party 35Catholic Party 26
Catholic Party 43Liberal Party 20
Catholic Party 72Liberal Party 52
Liberal Party 31Catholic Party 30
Catholics 33Liberal Party 30
Liberal Party 43Catholics 18
Liberal Party 64Catholics 52
Catholics 34Liberal Party 24
Liberal Party 36Catholics 22
Liberal Party 31Catholics 27
Liberal Party 70Catholics 38
Catholics 33Liberal Party 21
Liberal Party 28Catholics 26
Liberal Party 31Catholics 23
Liberal Party 32Catholics 22
Liberal Party 83Catholics 25
Liberal Association 33Catholics 21
Catholics 32Liberals 13Independents 2
Catholics 27Liberals 12Independents 8
Catholics 31Independents 16Liberals 4others 51
The long arc in charts
Hover any point for the exact figure.
Turnout since 1919
Voting has been compulsory since 1893, so Belgian turnout lives between 85 and 95 per cent, among the highest sustained participation ever recorded.
The largest party's shrinking share
From the Catholic Party's absolute majorities to the N-VA's 16.7% in 2024: the fragmentation curve of a country whose party system split in two along the language border.
Records & superlatives
Highest turnout
93.4%
1987 — of the elections with a recorded figure
Lowest turnout
88.4%
2019
Highest vote share
69.5%
Liberal Party, 1848
Most seats won
108
Christian Social Party, 1950
Days without a government
541
the world record, set after the 2010 election — then nearly matched with 494 after 2019
Catholic majorities under plural voting
10
every election from 1894 to 1912 — the weighted franchise at work
How Belgian elections work
Compulsory voting, PR chambers
The 150-seat Chamber is elected by proportional representation in eleven constituencies, with a 5% provincial threshold. Voting has been compulsory for men since 1893 and for everyone since 1949: turnout is a constant, not a variable.
Two electorates, one country
Since the parties split along the language border there has been no Belgian party system: Flemings choose among Flemish parties, francophones among francophone ones, and only in bilingual Brussels do the two menus meet.
The formation is the ordeal
No party approaches a majority, so governments need six or seven partners across the language line. The negotiations have twice passed a year: 541 days after 2010, 494 after 2019, while caretaker cabinets minded the shop.
From census to universal
The kingdom's first sixty years of elections belonged to the one per cent who paid the cens; plural voting then weighted the new mass franchise until 1919. The labels on the early entries say plainly how narrow those electorates were.