Country: | Belgium |
Type: | parliamentary |
Ongoing: | no |
Previous Election: | 1987 Belgian general election |
Previous Year: | 1987 |
Next Election: | 1995 Belgian federal election |
Next Year: | 1995 |
Seats For Election: | 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives All 70 seats in the Senate |
Election Date: | 24 November 1991 |
Leader1: | Wilfried Martens |
Leader Since1: | Candidate for PM |
Party1: | Christian People's Party (Belgium) |
Last Election1: | 43 seats, 19.5% |
Seats1: | 39 |
Seat Change1: | 4 |
Popular Vote1: | 1,035,165 |
Percentage1: | 16.8% |
Swing1: | 2.7% |
Leader2: | Guy Spitaels |
Leader Since2: | 1981 |
Party2: | Socialist Party (francophone Belgium) |
Last Election2: | 40 seats, 15.6% |
Seats2: | 35 |
Seat Change2: | 5 |
Popular Vote2: | 831,199 |
Percentage2: | 13.5% |
Swing2: | 2.1% |
Leader3: | Frank Vandenbroucke |
Leader Since3: | 1989 |
Party3: | Socialist Party (Flanders) |
Last Election3: | 32 seats, 14.9% |
Seats3: | 28 |
Seat Change3: | 4 |
Popular Vote3: | 737,976 |
Percentage3: | 12.0% |
Swing3: | 2.9% |
Leader4: | Guy Verhofstadt |
Leader Since4: | 1989 |
Party4: | Party for Freedom and Progress (Flanders) |
Last Election4: | 25 seats, 11.5% |
Seats4: | 26 |
Seat Change4: | 1 |
Popular Vote4: | 738,016 |
Percentage4: | 12.0% |
Swing4: | 0.5% |
Image5: | PRL |
Leader5: | Antoine Duquesne and Daniel Ducarme |
Leader Since5: | 1990 |
Party5: | Liberal Reformist Party (Belgium) |
Last Election5: | 23 seats, 9.4% |
Seats5: | 20 |
Seat Change5: | 3 |
Popular Vote5: | 501,647 |
Percentage5: | 8.1% |
Swing5: | 1.3% |
Leader6: | Gérard Deprez |
Leader Since6: | 1981 |
Party6: | Christian Social Party (Wallonia) |
Last Election6: | 19 seats, 8.0% |
Seats6: | 18 |
Seat Change6: | 1 |
Popular Vote6: | 476,470 |
Percentage6: | 7.7% |
Swing6: | 0.3% |
Government | |
Posttitle: | Government after election |
Before Election: | Martens IX |
Before Party: | CVP-PSC-PS-SP |
After Election: | Martens IX |
After Party: | CVP-PSC-PS-SP |
General elections were held in Belgium on 24 November 1991 to elect members of the Chamber of Representatives and Senate. The results represented a big loss for the majority parties (Christian democrats and Socialists) and significant gains for the Vlaams Blok. The day became known as "black Sunday" due to the rise of the far-right party.
These were the last elections before the new 1993 Belgian Constitution, which turned Belgium formally into a federal state: after this election, the number of MPs were reduced while the regional parliaments would become directly elected. The provincial elections would no longer coincide with national elections, but with municipal elections.
By law of 16 July 1991, experiments with electronic voting were carried out for the first time in Belgium during these elections, specifically in the canton of Verlaine (Liège Province) and the canton of Waarschoot (province of East Flanders).