Belgian general election, June 1870 First party Second party Leader Walthère Frère-Orban Jules d'Anethan Party Liberal Catholic Leader since Candidate for PM Candidate for PM Seats before 72 seats 50 seats Seats won 31 30 Seats after 61 61 Seat change 11 11 Popular vote 17,173 13,698 Percentage 55.63% 44.37%
Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 11 June 1870.[ 1] [ 2] In the elections for the Chamber of Representatives the Liberal Party and the Catholic Party both won 61 seats, resulting in a hung parliament .[ 2] Voter turnout was 60%, although only 51,435 people were eligible to vote. Consequently, early elections were held two months later.
Under the alternating system, elections for the Chamber of Representatives were only held in four out of the nine provinces: Hainaut , Limburg , Liège and East Flanders .
Chamber of Representatives [ edit ] Party Votes % Seats Won Total +/– Liberal Party 17,173 55.63 31 61 –11 Catholic Party 13,698 44.37 30 61 +11 Total 30,871 100.00 61 122 0 Total votes 30,871 – Registered voters/turnout 51,435 60.02 Source: Mackie & Rose,[ 3] Sternberger et al .
^ Codebook Constituency-level Elections Archive, 2003 ^ a b Sternberger, D, Vogel, B & Nohlen, D (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa - Erster Halbband , p105 ^ Thomas T. Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History , Macmillan, pp48–49