1978 Belgian general election
First party
Second party
Third party
Leader
Paul Vanden Boeynants
André Cools
Karel Van Miert
Party
CVP
PS
sp.a
Leader since
Candidate for PM
1978
1978
Last election
56 seats, 26.20%
New
New
Seats won
57
31
26
Seat change
1
New
New
Popular vote
1,447,112
689,876
684,976
Percentage
26.14%
12.46%
12.37%
Swing
0.06%
New
New
Fourth party
Fifth party
Sixth party
PRLW
Leader
Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb
Willy De Clercq
André Damseaux
Party
cdH
Open Vld
PRLW
Leader since
1977
1977
1973
Last election
24 seats, 7.29%
17 seats, 8.54%
16 seats, 3.34%
Seats won
25
22
15
Seat change
1
5
1
Popular vote
560,440
573,387
256,685
Percentage
10.12%
10.36%
4.64%
Swing
2.83%
1.82%
1.30%
Seat distribution by constituency for the Chamber of Deputies.
General elections were held in Belgium on 17 December 1978.[ 1] The Christian People's Party emerged as the largest party, with 57 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 29 of the 106 seats in the Senate . Voter turnout was 94.8%.[ 2] Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils and for the Council of the German Cultural Community .
The snap elections were called after Prime Minister Leo Tindemans resigned over the Egmont pact , which would have transformed Belgium into a federal state. Vlaams Blok participated for the first time, which was formed out of disagreement within the People's Union over concessions in the Egmont pact.
Chamber of Representatives [ edit ]
The primary six Flemish political parties and their results for the House of Representatives (Kamer). From 1978 to 2014, in percentages for the complete 'Kingdom'.
Party Votes % Seats +/– Christian People's Party 1,447,112 26.14 57 +1 Belgian Socialist Party (Wallonia) 689,876 12.46 31 +31 Belgian Socialist Party (Flanders) 684,976 12.37 26 –1 Party for Freedom and Progress 573,387 10.36 22 +5 Christian Social Party 560,440 10.12 25 +1 People's Union 388,762 7.02 14 –6 Democratic Front of the Francophones 259,019 4.68 11 0 Party of Reforms and Freedom of Wallonia 256,685 4.64 15 –1 Communist Party of Belgium 180,234 3.26 4 +4 Walloon Rally 128,153 2.32 4 0 Vlaams Blok 75,635 1.37 1 New Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour 48,616 0.88 1 +1 All Power to the Workers 43,483 0.79 0 New Liberal Party (Wallonia) 41,460 0.75 0 New PRLW –Party for Reforms and Freedom 31,280 0.57 0 0 Belgian Socialist Party (Luxembourg) 30,222 0.55 1 New Ecolo 21,224 0.38 0 0 Walloon Liberal Party 9,861 0.18 0 New Party of German-speaking Belgians 9,032 0.16 0 0 ECOLOG 8,360 0.15 0 0 Revolutionary Workers' League (Flanders) 6,383 0.12 0 0 Walloon Rally (Luxembourg) 6,493 0.12 0 New Agalev 5,556 0.10 0 0 Ecology–Politics 3,922 0.07 0 New Liberal, Social and Democratic Party 3,678 0.07 0 New Belgian National Party 3,465 0.06 0 New Revolutionary Workers' League (Wallonia) 2,597 0.05 0 0 Francophone Liberal Party 2,313 0.04 0 New Belgian Progressive Party 2,123 0.04 0 New Democratic and Progressive Union 1,843 0.03 0 0 Green 1,761 0.03 0 New United Feminist Party 1,686 0.03 0 0 Progressive Front–Ecologists 1,512 0.03 0 New Kaganovemus 1,376 0.02 0 0 Party for Free Communication and Environmental Protection 993 0.02 0 New Party of New Forces 729 0.01 0 New Liberal Party 698 0.01 0 New PDE 375 0.01 0 New PDRT 311 0.01 0 New Total 5,535,631 100.00 212 0 Valid votes 5,535,631 91.61 Invalid/blank votes 507,058 8.39 Total votes 6,042,689 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 6,366,655 94.91 Source: Belgian Elections , Global Elections Database
Party Votes % Seats +/– Christian People's Party 1,420,777 25.93 29 +1 Belgian Socialist Party (Wallonia) 685,307 12.51 17 –2 Belgian Socialist Party (Flanders) 678,776 12.39 13 +1 Party for Freedom and Progress 572,535 10.45 11 +2 Christian Social Party 535,939 9.78 12 +1 People's Union 384,562 7.02 7 –3 Party of Reforms and Freedom of Wallonia-PL 330,155 6.03 6 -1 Democratic Front of the Francophones 266,713 4.87 7 New Communist Party of Belgium 182,711 3.33 1 0 Walloon Rally 123,794 2.26 2 0 Vlaams Blok 80,809 1.47 0 New Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour 51,571 0.94 0 New All Power to the Workers 44,379 0.81 0 New Ecolo 43,883 0.80 0 0 Belgian Socialist Party (Luxembourg) 30,837 0.56 1 New Party of German-speaking Belgians 11,148 0.20 0 0 Walloon Liberal Party 11,081 0.20 0 New Walloon Rally (Luxembourg) 6,659 0.12 0 New Revolutionary Workers' League 3,744 0.07 0 New Liberal, Social and Democratic Party 3,239 0.06 0 New Belgian Progressive Party 2,804 0.05 0 New Francophone Liberal Party 2,640 0.05 0 New Democratic and Progressive Union 2,221 0.04 0 0 United Feminist Party 2,045 0.04 0 0 Revolutionary Communist Party 917 0.02 0 New Total 5,479,246 100.00 106 0 Valid votes 5,479,246 90.65 Invalid/blank votes 565,299 9.35 Total votes 6,044,545 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 6,366,655 94.94 Source: Belgian Elections
^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook , p289 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
^ Nohlen & Stöver, p291