1884 Belgian general election

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1884 Belgian general election

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1884 Belgian general election

← 1882

10 June 1884 (Chamber first round)
17 June 1884 (Chamber run-off)
8 July 1884 (Senate first round)
15 July 1884 (Senate run-off)

1886 →

69 of the 138 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
70 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	Jules Malou	Walthère Frère-Orban
Party	Catholic	Liberal
Leader since	Candidate for PM	Candidate for PM
Seats before	59 seats	79 seats
Seats won	67	2
Seats after	86	52
Seat change	27	27
Popular vote	33,428	21,294
Percentage	57.48%	36.62%

Government before election

Frère-Orban II
Liberal

Government after election

Malou II
Catholic

Politics of Belgium


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Legislative elections were held in Belgium in June and July 1884, for partial Chamber and full Senate elections respectively.^[1]^[2] Voter turnout was 79.1% in the Chamber of Representatives elections, although only 69,276 people were eligible to vote.

Background

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The election occurred during the First School War. The incumbent Liberal government under Walthère Frère-Orban aimed to secularize education, which sparked heavy protests from Catholics.

Regular partial elections for the Chamber of Representatives were held on Tuesday 10 June 1884, with a run-off on Tuesday 17 June. Under the alternating system, elections for the Chamber of Representatives were only held in five out of the nine provinces: Antwerp, Brabant, Luxembourg, Namur and West Flanders. Special elections were held in the arrondissements of Aalst and Sint-Niklaas, for one representative in each.

The result was a large victory for the Catholic Party. The Frère-Orban government resigned and was succeeded by a Catholic government led by Jules Malou, which immediately abolished the Ministry of Public Education.

The Liberals however retained a majority in the Senate, which was not up for election. It was subsequently dissolved, triggering its complete re-election. Senate elections were held on Tuesday 8 July 1884, with a run-off on Tuesday 15 July. The Catholic Party won 43 of the 69 seats in the Senate.^[2]

The election ended the First School War and marked the end of the last homogeneously liberal government. The Catholic Party under Jules Malou gained an absolute majority, which they would retain until the First World War.

Campaign

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Among the 69 Chamber seats up for election:^[3]

17 seats had uncontested Catholic candidates: Mechelen (3), Turnhout (3), Kortrijk (4), Roeselare (2), Tielt (2), Veurne (1), Diksmuide (1) and Bastogne (1).
11 seats were likely Catholic wins: Leuven (5), Ypres (3), Dinant (2) and Marche (1).
1 seat was likely Liberal: Arlon (1).
40 seats were competitive:
- Antwerp (8), Nivelles (4) and Bruges (3) were historically competitive.
- Namur (4), Philippeville (2), Neufchâteau (1), Virton (1) were competitive since the 1870s.
- Brussels (16) was only since two years competitive.
- Ostend (1), until now solidly liberal, was now competitive.

The Catholics gained 27 Chamber seats from the Liberals: 16 in Brussels, four in Nivelles, two in Namur, one in Philippeville, one in Antwerp, one in Ostend, one in Neufchâteau and one in Bruges. The Liberals only retained the single seats in Arlon and Virton, both in Luxembourg.

Results

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Chamber of Representatives

[edit]



Party		Votes	%	Seats
Party		Votes	%	Won	Total	+/–
	Catholic Party	33,428	61.01	67	86	+27
	Liberal Party	21,294	38.86	2	52	–27
	Others	68	0.12	0	0	0
Total		54,790	100.00	69	138	0

Total votes		54,790	–
Registered voters/turnout		69,276	79.09
Source: Mackie & Rose,^[4] Sternberger et al.

Senate

[edit]



Party		Seats	+/–
	Catholic Party	43	+11
	Liberal Party	26	–11
Total		69	0

Source: Sternberger et al.

References

[edit]

^ Codebook Constituency-level Elections Archive, 2003
^ ^a ^b Sternberger, D, Vogel, B & Nohlen, D (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa - Erster Halbband, p105
^ Lamberts, Emiel; Lory, Jacques (1986). 1884: un tournant politique en Belgique. p. 18. ISBN 9782802800477.
^ Thomas T. Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, pp48–49

v t e Elections and referendums in Belgium (list)
General/federal elections	1830 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1848 1850 1851 1852 1854 1855 1856 1857 1859 1861 1863 1864 1866 1867 1868 1870 (Jun) 1870 (Aug) 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1919 1921 1925 1929 1932 1936 1939 1946 1949 1950 1954 1958 1961 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1978 1981 1985 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2010 2014 2019 2024
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Referendums	1950

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