1985 Belgian general election

1985 Belgian general election

13 October 1985
212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
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%
Government before election Martens V CVP-PSC-PVV-PRL Government after election Martens VI CVP-PSC-PVV-PRL

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