1859 Belgian general election

14 June 1859 (1859-06-14)
58 of the 116 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 57 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Charles Rogier Party Liberal Catholic Leader since Candidate for PM Seats before 70 seats 38 seats Seats won 31 27 Seats after 69 47 Seat change 1 9 Popular vote 15,052 12,726 Percentage 54.19% 45.81%
Government before election Rogier II Liberal Government after election Rogier II Liberal

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Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 14 June 1859.^[1][2] The result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 69 of the 116 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 31 of the 58 seats in the Senate.^[2] Voter turnout was 55.9%, although only 49,672 people were eligible to vote.

Under the alternating system, elections for the Chamber of Representatives were only held in five out of the nine provinces: Antwerp, Brabant, Luxembourg, Namur and West Flanders. Additionally, special elections were held on the same day in the arrondissements of Charleroi, Liège and Mons.

Campaign

Twelve of the 58 seats were uncontested, of which the Catholics won nine and the Liberals three.^[3]

Results

Chamber of Representatives

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Won	Total	+/–
	Liberal Party	15,052	54.19	31	69	–1
	Catholics	12,726	45.81	27	47	+9
Total		27,778	100.00	58	116	+8
Total votes		27,778	–
Registered voters/turnout		49,672	55.92
Source: Mackie & Rose,[3] Sternberger et al.

The results exclude the voting figures for the Leper Colony seat.^[3]

Senate

Party		Seats
	Liberal Party	31
	Catholics	27
Total		58
Source: Sternberger et al.

Constituencies

The distribution of seats among the electoral districts was as follows for the Chamber of Representatives, with the difference compared to the previous election due to population growth:^[4]

References