1981 Belgian general election
First party
Second party
Third party
Leader
Mark Eyskens
André Cools
Willy De Clercq
Party
CVP
PS
Open Vld
Leader since
Candidate for PM
1978
1977
Last election
57 seats, 26.14%
31 seats, 12.46%
22 seats, 10.36%
Seats won
43
35
28
Seat change
14
4
6
Popular vote
1,165,239
733,137
776,871
Percentage
19.34%
12.17%
12.89%
Swing
6.80%
0.29%
2.53%
Fourth party
Fifth party
Sixth party
Leader
Karel Van Miert
Jean Gol
Vic Anciaux
Party
sp.a
PRL
VU
Leader since
1978
1979
1979
Last election
26 seats, 12.37%
15 seats, 4.64%
14 seats, 7.02%
Seats won
26
24
20
Seat change
9
6
Popular vote
744,593
480,380
588,436
Percentage
12.36%
7.97%
9.77%
Swing
0.01%
3.33%
2.75%
Colours denote the winning party in each electoral district (for the Chamber of Deputies).
General elections were held in Belgium on 8 November 1981.[1] [2] Voter turnout was 94.5% in the Chamber election and 94.6% in the Senate election.[3] Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils and for the Council of the German Cultural Community . They were the first elections after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. This contributed to the success of the socialist parties and the green parties (Agalev and Ecolo).
The traditionally largest Christian People's Party saw significant losses, with only 43 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives . The result was considered an election upset.[2]
Results [ ]
Chamber of Deputies [ ]
Party
Votes
%
Seats
+/–
Christian People's Party
1,165,239
19.34
43
–14
Party for Freedom and Progress
776,871
12.89
28
+6
Parti Socialiste
733,137
12.17
35
+4
Socialistische Partij
744,593
12.36
26
0
People's Union
588,436
9.77
20
+6
Liberal Reformist Party
480,380
7.97
24
+9
Social Christian Party
390,896
6.49
18
–7
FDF -RW
253,720
4.21
8
–3
Agalev
138,575
2.30
2
+2
Ecolo
132,312
2.20
2
+2
130,526
2.17
3
+2
Communist Party of Belgium
138,978
2.31
2
–2
Vlaams Blok
66,424
1.10
1
0
PVDA
40,446
0.67
0
New
PSC/CSP
39,961
0.66
0
New
PRL/PFF
35,925
0.60
0
New
SP/PS
31,784
0.53
0
New
WALLON
31,061
0.52
0
New
RAD
28,661
0.48
0
New
ECOLO-J
10,946
0.18
0
New
Party of German-speaking Belgians
8,397
0.14
0
0
RAL
7,110
0.12
0
New
ECOLOS
5,858
0.10
0
New
LRT-PLS
5,241
0.09
0
New
FNK
5,102
0.08
0
New
UDRT
4,540
0.08
0
New
BLANCO
4,118
0.07
0
New
DD
3,545
0.06
0
New
UNF
2,914
0.05
0
New
PVDA/PTB
2,898
0.05
0
New
ECO-BXL
2,710
0.04
0
New
FN
2,479
0.04
0
New
PTB
2,460
0.04
0
New
BNP
2,263
0.04
0
New
PCPA
1,785
0.03
0
New
PNB-BNP
954
0.02
0
New
PFU
856
0.01
0
0
AAJ
838
0.01
0
New
URD
598
0.01
0
New
LISTE-12
588
0.01
0
New
LISTE-14
372
0.01
0
New
CIN
210
0.00
0
New
LISTE-13
180
0.00
0
New
PNB
140
0.00
0
New
Invalid/blank votes
477,043
–
–
–
Total
6,502,070
100
212
0
Source: Belgian Election Results
Senate [ ]
Party
Votes
%
Seats
+/–
Christian People's Party
1,149,353
19.26
22
–7
Party for Freedom and Progress
781,137
13.09
14
+3
Parti Socialiste
755,512
12.66
18
New
Socialistische Partij
732,126
12.27
13
New
People's Union
587,002
9.84
10
+3
Liberal Reformist Party
515,868
8.64
11
New
Social Christian Party
414,733
6.95
8
–4
FDF -RW
255,727
4.28
4
–3
164,131
2.75
1
+1
Ecolo
153,989
2.58
3
+3
Communist Party of Belgium
140,577
2.36
1
0
Agalev
121,016
2.03
1
New
Vlaams Blok
71,733
1.20
0
0
PVDA/PTB
49,577
0.83
0
New
WALLON
30,632
0.51
0
New
Party of German-speaking Belgians
8,770
0.15
0
0
RAL
8,450
0.14
0
New
LRT-PLS
5,894
0.10
0
New
FNK
5,317
0.09
0
New
ECOLOS
2,796
0.05
0
New
UNF
2,721
0.05
0
New
DD
2,295
0.04
0
New
FN
2,092
0.04
0
New
GOOSSE
1,511
0.03
0
New
BELGE
1,326
0.02
0
New
PFU
1,052
0.02
0
0
PKS
737
0.01
0
New
URD
629
0.01
0
New
LISTE-12
626
0.01
0
New
PAIX
611
0.01
0
New
LISTE-14
378
0.01
0
New
LISTE-13
111
0.00
0
New
Invalid/blank votes
534,297
–
–
–
Total
6,502,726
100
106
0
Source: Election Results
References [ ]