1974 Belgian general election

← 1971

10 March 1974

1977 →

212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Edmond Leburton	Leo Tindemans	Frans Grootjans
Party	Socialist	CVP	Open Vld
Leader since	Candidate for PM	Candidate for PM	1973
Last election	25 seats, 10.40%	40 seats, 18.32%	16 seats, 7.42%
Seats won	59	50	30
Seat change	34	10	14
Popular vote	1,401,725	1,222,646	798,818
Percentage	26.66%	23.25%	15.19%
Swing	16.26%	4.91%	7.77%

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Leader	Frans Van der Elst	Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb	André Lagasse
Party	VU	cdH	DéFI
Leader since	1955	1972	1972
Last election	21 seats, 11.11%	15 seats, 6.20%	12 seats, 5.43%
Seats won	22	22	14
Seat change	1	7	2
Popular vote	536,287	478,209	301,303
Percentage	10.20%	9.09%	5.73%
Swing	0.91%	2.89%	0.30%

Results by constituency for the Chamber of Representatives

Government before election

Leburton II
BSP/PSB-CVP-PSC-PVV-PRL

Government after election

Tindemans I
CVP-PSC-PVV-PRL

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v t e

General elections were held in Belgium on 10 March 1974. The Belgian Socialist Party emerged as the largest faction in the Chamber of Representatives with 59 of the 212 seats. Voter turnout was 90.3%. Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils, as well as for the Council of the German Cultural Community for the first time.

Results

Chamber of Representatives



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Belgian Socialist Party	1,314,796	25.00	59	+2
	Christian People's Party	1,222,646	23.25	50	+10
	Party for Freedom and Progress	798,818	15.19	30	+4
	People's Union	536,287	10.20	22	+1
	Christian Social Party	478,209	9.09	22	+7
	FDF–PDLP	301,303	5.73	14	New
	Walloon Rally	269,455	5.12	11	−1
	Communist Party of Belgium	107,481	2.04	2	New
	BSP–Red Lions	86,929	1.65	0	New
	Democratic and Progressive Union	58,527	1.11	2	+2
	All Power to the Workers	19,794	0.38	0	New
	United Feminist Party	18,511	0.35	0	New
	Party for the Middle Classes and Independents	9,184	0.17	0	New
	Party of German-speaking Belgians	8,700	0.17	0	New
	Walloon Liberal Party	6,846	0.13	0	New
	FDP	4,729	0.09	0	New
	Democratic and Progressive Union–New Democracy	3,623	0.07	0	New
	Rex Fr	2,764	0.05	0	New
	Return to Liège	1,810	0.03	0	New
	Kaganovemus	1,678	0.03	0	0
	SAP	1,445	0.03	0	New
	Diependale	1,229	0.02	0	New
	A74	979	0.02	0	New
	PRS	905	0.02	0	New
	Zwartberg	665	0.01	0	New
	Trotskyists	645	0.01	0	New
	Belgian Radical Union	389	0.01	0	New
	PUR	184	0.00	0	New
Total		5,258,531	100.00	212	0

Valid votes		5,258,531	92.07
Invalid/blank votes		453,108	7.93
Total votes		5,711,639	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,323,027	90.33
Source: Belgian Elections

Senate



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Belgian Socialist Party	1,301,722	25.11	27	New
	Christian People's Party	1,219,811	23.53	27	New
	Party for Freedom and Progress	755,694	14.58	16	+1
	FDF–RW–PDLP	589,553	11.37	13	New
	People's Union	545,215	10.52	10	New
	Christian Social Party	430,512	8.30	10	New
	Communist Party of Belgium	115,007	2.22	1	0
	BSP–Red Lions	82,959	1.60	2	+2
	Democratic and Progressive Union	60,400	1.16	0	0
	Party for Freedom and Progress (Wallonia)	21,782	0.42	0	New
	All Power to the Workers	16,744	0.32	0	New
	Party of German-speaking Belgians	15,624	0.30	0	New
	United Feminist Party	11,910	0.23	0	New
	Party for the Middle Classes and Independents	5,918	0.11	0	New
	Iependael	2,784	0.05	0	New
	Zwartberg	2,149	0.04	0	New
	Kaganovemus	1,903	0.04	0	0
	PMO–Belgian Radical Union	1,078	0.02	0	New
	A74	942	0.02	0	New
	Walloon Liberal Party	597	0.01	0	New
	PUR	156	0.00	0	New
	Other parties	2,255	0.04	0	–
Total		5,184,715	100.00	106	0

Valid votes		5,184,715	90.77
Invalid/blank votes		527,014	9.23
Total votes		5,711,729	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,323,027	90.33
Source: Belgian Elections

Council of the German Cultural Community

In this election, the new Council of the German Cultural Community (Rat der deutschen Kulturgemeinschaft) was directly elected for the first time; members of the council had been appointed a year earlier. The council is the precursor to the Parliament of the German-speaking Community.


Party		%	Seats	+/–
	Christian Social Party	46.90	12	–1
	Party of German-speaking Belgians	25.40	6	+3
	Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt	14.90	4	–2
	Belgian Socialist Party	12.10	3	0
	Other parties	15.10	0	–
Total			25	0

Source: PDG

References

Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p289 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
Nohlen & Stöver, p291
https://wahlergebnisse.belgium.be/de/election-results/abgeordnetenkammer/1974/k%C3%B6nigreich/157634

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
Regional elections	1974 1977 1978 1981 1986 1989 1990 1995 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Provincial elections	1949 1950 1954 1958 1961 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1978 1981 1985 1987 1991 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024
Municipal elections	1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Referendums	1950

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