1900 Belgian general election

none Belgium parliamentary 1898 Belgian general election 1898 1902 Belgian general election 1902 All 152 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 27 May 1900 130x130px Paul_de_Smet_de_Naeyer.jpg Paul de Smet de Naeyer Catholic Party (Belgium) 86 993,945 48.46% 3x4.svg August De Winne Belgian Labour Party 32 461,295 22.49% 3x4.svg Liberal Party (Belgium) 31 464,959 22.67% Government Government after election de Smet de Naeyer II Catholic Party (Belgium) de Smet de Naeyer II Catholic Party (Belgium) Full general elections were held in Belgium on 27 May 1900. Elections in Europe: A data handbook Nohlen Dieter Dieter Nohlen Stöver Philip 31 May 2010 Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft 289 978-3-8329-5609-7 They were the first elections under a proportional system (using the D'Hondt method) instead of a majority system,Shepherd William R. 1900 Record of Political Events https://www.jstor.org/stable/2140482 Political Science Quarterly 15 4 760 10.2307/2140482 0032-3195 subscription with Belgium becoming the first country in the world to adopt proportional representation for parliamentary elections. Single-member constituencies were replaced with multi-member constituencies of between three and eighteen seats. The introduction of proportional representation was beneficial to the Liberal Party, which took significantly more seats. Although the Catholic Party lost seats, it retained its absolute majority, winning 86 of the 152 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 44 of the 76 seats in the Senate.Nohlen & Stöver, pp307-310 Constituencies The distribution of seats among the electoral districts was as follows for the Chamber of Representatives.List of members of the Chamber of Representatives (1900-1901) As the electoral system changed to a proportional one, the electoral arrondissements with only one or two representatives were grouped together to form larger ones. Each electoral district now had at least 3 representatives, with the exception of Neufchâteau-Virton. Province Arrondissement Previous New Antwerp Antwerp 11 Mechelen 4 Turnhout 3 Limburg Hasselt 3 Maaseik 1 3 Tongeren 2 East Flanders Aalst 4 Oudenaarde 3 Gent 9 10 Eeklo 1 Dendermonde 3 Sint-Niklaas 4 West Flanders Bruges 3 Roeselare 2 4 Tielt 2 Kortrijk 4 Ypres 3 Veurne 1 4 Diksmuide 1 Ostend 2 Brabant Leuven 6 Brussels 18 Nivelles 4 Hainaut Tournai 4 6 Ath 2 Charleroi 8 Thuin 3 Mons 6 Soignies 3 Liège Huy 2 4 Waremme 2 Liège 11 Verviers 4 Luxembourg Arlon 1 3 Marche 1 Bastogne 1 Neufchâteau 1 2 Virton 1 Namur Namur 4 Dinant 2 4 Philippeville 2 152 152 Results Chamber of Representatives File:Belgian Chamber 1900.svg Catholic Party 993945 86 Liberal Party 464959 31 Belgian Labour Party 461295 32 Christene Volkspartij 52093 1 Radical Party 33840 2 Other parties 44782 0 2269414 Belgian ElectionsBelgian Elections Senate File:Belgium Senate 1900.svg Catholic Party 911262 44 Liberal Party 565767 23 Belgian Labour Party 119000 4 Radical Party 78195 4 Social Radical Party 17838 1 Liberal dissidents 4633 0 Independents 28970 0 2020987 Nohlen & Stöver, Belgian Elections References Belgium Category:1900s elections in Belgium General Belgium