2003 Belgian federal election

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2003 Belgian federal election

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| <- 1999 | 18 May 2003 (2003-05-18) | 2007 ->

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Chamber of Representatives

* * *

All 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout| 91.63%
| Party  | Leader  | Vote %  | Seats  | +/–

|
|
|
|

| VLD | Guy Verhofstadt | 15.36  | 25  | +2
| sp.a–spirit | Johan Vande Lanotte | 14.91  | 23  | +9
| CD&V | Stefaan De Clerck | 13.25  | 21  | −1
| PS | Elio Di Rupo | 13.02  | 25  | +6
| Vlaams Blok | Frank Vanhecke | 11.68  | 18  | +3
| MR | Antoine Duquesne | 11.40  | 24  | +6
| cdH | Joëlle Milquet | 5.47  | 8  | −2
| N-VA | Geert Bourgeois | 3.06  | 1  | New
| Ecolo | Philippe Defeyt [nl]
Évelyne Huytebroeck [nl]
Marc Hordies [nl] | 3.06  | 4  | −7
| FN | Daniel Féret | 1.98  | 1  | 0

This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Senate

* * *

40 of 71 seats in the Senate
| Party  | Vote %  | Seats  | +/–

|
|
|

| sp.a–spirit

| 15.47  | 7  | +3
| VLD

| 15.38  | 7  | +1
| PS

| 12.84  | 6  | +2
| CD&V

| 12.71  | 6  | 0
| MR

| 12.15  | 5  | 0
| Vlaams Blok

| 11.32  | 5  | +1
| cdH

| 5.54  | 2  | −1
| Ecolo

| 3.19  | 1  | −2
| FN

| 2.25  | 1  | +1

This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Chamber of Representatives results by electoral district

Senate direct election results by province

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Federal elections were held in Belgium on 18 May 2003, the first under a new electoral code. One of the novelties was an electoral threshold of 5, which has cost many seats to the N-VA and the Green parties, Ecolo and Agalev. The Belgian Socialists recovered well; the liberal and nationalist parties increased their vote as well.

The Flemish Greens lost all their seats. The Greens were attacked on two fronts: some,[who?] including their coalition partners, accused them of being too fundamentalist, while others[who?] said that they had betrayed their ideals. The resignation of a Walloon green minister (Isabelle Durant), one week before the elections, probably didn't do them much good either.[citation needed] Although it was predicted in some opinion polls, the gains of the Front National were surprising, considering that it seldom appeared in the media.[citation needed] The most important trend was the recovery of the Flemish social-democrats, led by the popular (some would say populist) Steve Stevaert. The fact that Elio Di Rupo was learning Dutch caused rumours that he hoped to become prime minister,[citation needed] if the social-democrats would turn out to be the largest political family.

Themes that probably influenced the election results in some way[citation needed] were the government's opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the controversy around the nuisance around the airport of Zaventem, the controversy surrounding the banning of tobacco publicity, and unemployment, but a general dominating theme was lacking.

## Results

[edit]

### Chamber of Representatives

[edit]

Party| Votes| %| +/–| Seats| +/–
| Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten| 1,009,223| 15.36| +1.06| 25| +2
| Socialistische Partij Anders–Spirit| 979,750| 14.91| +5.37| 23| +9
| Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams| 870,749| 13.25| –0.84| 21| –1
| Parti Socialiste| 855,992| 13.02| +2.86| 25| +6
| Vlaams Blok| 767,605| 11.68| +1.72| 18| +3
| Mouvement Réformateur| 748,952| 11.40| +1.26| 24| +6
| Centre démocrate humaniste| 359,660| 5.47| –0.40| 8| –2
| New Flemish Alliance| 201,399| 3.06| New| 1| New
| Ecolo| 201,118| 3.06| –4.29| 4| –7
| Agalev| 162,205| 2.47| –4.52| 0| –9
| National Front| 130,012| 1.98| +0.53| 1| 0
| Vivant| 81,337| 1.24| –0.86| 0| 0
| Chrétiens démocrates francophones [fr]| 38,346| 0.58| New| 0| New
| Liberal Appeal| 29,868| 0.45| New| 0| New
| Rassemblement Wallonie France| 25,416| 0.39| New| 0| New
| Workers' Party of Belgium| 20,825| 0.32| –0.18| 0| 0
| RESIST| 10,059| 0.15| New| 0| New
| Belgian Union| 10,034| 0.15| New| 0| New
| Parti citoyenneté et prospérité| 8,258| 0.13| New| 0| New
| Socialist Movement [fr]| 8,116| 0.12| New| 0| New
| Communist Party of Belgium| 6,759| 0.10| –0.27| 0| 0
| New Belgian Front| 6,736| 0.10| –0.26| 0| 0
| MARIA| 6,440| 0.10| New| 0| New
| France| 5,668| 0.09| –0.03| 0| 0
| Nation| 4,190| 0.06| New| 0| New
| VeiligBlauw| 3,237| 0.05| New| 0| New
| Left Socialist Party| 2,929| 0.04| New| 0| New
| Communist Party–RDS| 2,522| 0.04| New| 0| New
| CHOPE| 2,430| 0.04| New| 0| New
| RDS–Communist Party| 2,084| 0.03| New| 0| New
| UFE| 1,910| 0.03| New| 0| New
| OMNIUM| 1,616| 0.02| New| 0| New
| PDA| 1,415| 0.02| New| 0| New
| Vrijheid, Intimiteit, Thuis, Arbeid en Liefde [nl]| 1,325| 0.02| New| 0| New
| Noor| 1,141| 0.02| +0.00| 0| 0
| DL| 1,052| 0.02| New| 0| New
| MDT| 914| 0.01| New| 0| New
| Parti humaniste–Humanistische Partij| 521| 0.01| +0.01| 0| 0
| PPR| 376| 0.01| New| 0| New
Total| 6,572,189| 100.00| –| 150| 0
Valid votes| 6,572,189| 94.75|
Invalid/blank votes| 364,412| 5.25|
Total votes| 6,936,601| 100.00|
Registered voters/turnout| 7,570,637| 91.63|
Source: IBZ

### Senate

[edit]

Party| Votes| %| +/–| Seats| +/–
| Socialistische Partij Anders–Spirit| 1,013,560| 15.47| +6.59| 7| +3
| Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten| 1,007,868| 15.38| +0.01| 7| +1
| Parti Socialiste| 840,908| 12.84| +3.19| 6| +2
| Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams| 832,849| 12.71| –2.03| 6| 0
| Mouvement Réformateur| 795,757| 12.15| +1.58| 5| 0
| Vlaams Blok| 741,940| 11.32| +1.91| 5| +1
| Centre démocrate humaniste| 362,705| 5.54| –0.49| 2| –1
| Ecolo| 208,868| 3.19| –4.21| 1| –2
| New Flemish Alliance| 200,273| 3.06| New| 0| New
| Agalev| 161,024| 2.46| –4.62| 0| –3
| National Front| 147,305| 2.25| +0.75| 1| +1
| Vivant| 86,723| 1.32| –0.66| 0| 0
| Chrétiens démocrates francophones [fr]| 38,339| 0.59| New| 0| New
| Rassemblement Wallonie France| 27,424| 0.42| New| 0| New
| Liberal Appeal| 26,629| 0.41| New| 0| New
| Workers' Party of Belgium| 18,699| 0.29| +0.11| 0| 0
| RESIST| 17,604| 0.27| New| 0| New
| Left Socialist Party| 8,337| 0.13| New| 0| New
| VeiligBlauw| 8,048| 0.12| New| 0| New
| Social Liberal Democrats [nl]| 6,651| 0.10| –0.02| 0| 0
Total| 6,551,511| 100.00| –| 40| 0
Valid votes| 6,551,511| 94.48|
Invalid/blank votes| 383,093| 5.52|
Total votes| 6,934,604| 100.00|
Registered voters/turnout| 7,570,637| 91.60|
Source: IBZ

## Further reading

[edit]

* Fitzmaurice, John (January 2004). "Belgium Stays 'Purple': The 2003 Federal Election". West European Politics. 27 (1): 146–156\. doi:10.1080/01402380412331280843.146-156&rft.date=2004-01&rft_id=info:doi/10.1080/01402380412331280843&rft.aulast=Fitzmaurice&rft.aufirst=John&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:2003+Belgian+federal+election" class="Z3988">

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