1985 Belgian general election
1985 Belgian general election
First party
Second party
Third party
PS
Leader
Wilfried Martens
Guy Spitaels
Karel Van Miert
Party
CVP
PS
sp.a
Leader since
Candidate for PM
1981
1978
Last election
43 seats, 19.34%
35 seats, 12.17%
26 seats, 12.36%
Seats won
49
35
32
Seat change
6
6
Popular vote
1,291,244
834,488
882,200
Percentage
21.29%
13.76%
14.55%
Swing
1.95%
1.59%
2.19%
Fourth party
Fifth party
Sixth party
Leader
Louis Michel
Guy Verhofstadt
Gérard Deprez
Party
PRL
Open Vld
cdH
Leader since
1982
1982
1981
Last election
24 seats, 7.97%
28 seats, 12.89%
18 seats, 6.49%
Seats won
24
22
20
Seat change
6
2
Popular vote
619,390
651,806
482,254
Percentage
10.21%
10.75%
7.95%
Swing
2.24%
2.14%
1.50%
Chamber of Representatives results Senate election results
Prime Minister Martens
General elections were held in Belgium on 13 October 1985. The Christian People's Party emerged as the largest party, with 49 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 25 of the 106 seats in the Senate . Elections to the nine provincial councils were also held.
The incumbent government was a coalition of Christian democrats (CVP/PSC) and liberals (PVV/PRL) led by Prime Minister Wilfried Martens . Following the elections, the same parties formed a new Martens Government. Guy Verhofstadt , PVV leader since 1982, was elected for the first time as representative. Despite PVV being the only governing party to lose seats, he was able to weigh on the government agreement and he became Deputy Prime Minister in the Martens VI Government. The government would fall two years later due to the Voeren issue; distrust of labour unions in Verhofstadt proved to be a factor as well.
Results
Chamber of Representatives
Party Votes % Seats +/– Christian People's Party 1,291,244 21.29 49 +6 Socialistische Partij 882,200 14.55 32 +6 Parti Socialiste 834,488 13.76 35 0 Party for Freedom and Progress 651,806 10.75 22 –6 Liberal Reformist Party 619,390 10.21 24 0 Social Christian Party (PSC) 482,254 7.95 20 +2 People's Union 477,755 7.88 16 –4 Agalev 226,758 3.74 4 +2 Ecolo 152,483 2.51 5 +3 Vlaams Blok 85,391 1.41 1 0 Democratic Front of Francophones 72,361 1.19 3 – Communist Party of Belgium 71,695 1.18 0 –2 Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour 69,707 1.15 1 –2 Workers' Party of Belgium 46,034 0.76 0 0 Solidarity and Participation 31,983 0.53 0 New Socialist Workers' Party 13,681 0.23 0 0 Green 9,719 0.16 0 New Walloon Party 9,284 0.15 0 New Organic Front for the Cultural Renewal of Solidarist Europe 8,221 0.14 0 New Union for a New Democracy 6,609 0.11 0 New Party of German-speaking Belgians 5,228 0.09 0 0 National Front 3,738 0.06 0 New Christian Liberal Party 3,442 0.06 0 New Parti Communautaire National-Européen 1,763 0.03 0 New Zo Maar 1,630 0.03 0 New United Feminist Party 1,201 0.02 0 0 Union of Progressive Walloons 828 0.01 0 New Flemish People's Party 678 0.01 0 New Charlier 655 0.01 0 New GIOT 640 0.01 0 New Humanist Party 518 0.01 0 New Appeal to All 464 0.01 0 New SDU–USD 412 0.01 0 New Total 6,064,260 100.00 212 0 Valid votes 6,064,260 92.55 Invalid/blank votes 487,974 7.45 Total votes 6,552,234 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 7,001,297 93.59 Source: Belgian Elections
Senate
Party Votes % Seats +/– Christian People's Party 1,260,113 21.02 25 +3 Socialistische Partij 868,624 14.49 16 +3 Parti Socialiste 832,792 13.89 18 0 Party for Freedom and Progress 637,776 10.64 11 –3 Liberal Reformist Party 588,373 9.82 13 +2 People's Union 484,996 8.09 8 –2 Social Christian Party 475,119 7.93 10 +2 Agalev 229,206 3.82 2 +1 Ecolo 163,361 2.73 2 –1 Vlaams Blok 90,120 1.50 0 0 Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour 73,045 1.22 0 –1 Communist Party of Belgium 71,020 1.18 0 –1 Democratic Front of Francophones 70,239 1.17 1 – Workers' Party of Belgium 44,799 0.75 0 0 Solidarity and Participation 33,554 0.56 0 New Socialist Workers' Party 16,786 0.28 0 0 Green 10,988 0.18 0 New Walloon Party 10,539 0.18 0 New Organic Front for the Cultural Renewal of Solidarist Europe 9,318 0.16 0 New Union for a New Democracy 7,200 0.12 0 New Party of German-speaking Belgians 5,364 0.09 0 New National Front 4,201 0.07 0 New Christian Liberal Party 3,267 0.05 0 New United Feminist Party 1,430 0.02 0 0 Parti Communautaire National-Européen 1,312 0.02 0 New Flemish People's Party 446 0.01 0 New Paix 443 0.01 0 0 Total 5,994,431 100.00 106 0 Valid votes 5,994,431 91.48 Invalid/blank votes 558,259 8.52 Total votes 6,552,690 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 7,001,297 93.59 Source: Belgian Elections
References