1900 Belgian general election

27 May 1900
All 152 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
First party Second party Third party   Leader Paul de Smet de Naeyer August De Winne Party Catholic Labour Liberal Seats won 86 32 31 Popular vote 993,945 461,295 464,959 Percentage 48.46% 22.49% 22.67%
Government before election de Smet de Naeyer II Catholic Government after election de Smet de Naeyer II Catholic

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Full general elections were held in Belgium on 27 May 1900.^[1]

They were the first elections under a proportional system (using the D'Hondt method) instead of a majority system.^[2] Belgium became the first country to adopt proportional representation as basis of its electoral system. To make the system possible, smaller electoral districts (arrondissements) were grouped into a single electoral district (a group of arrondissements). The introduction of proportional representation was beneficial to the Liberal Party, which significantly increased its number of seats. The Liberal Party previously suffered losses after the introduction of universal suffrage in 1894.

The Catholic Party thus lost seats but retained its absolute majority, with 86 of the 152 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 44 of the 76 seats in the Senate.^[3]

Results

Chamber of Representatives

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Catholic Party	993,945	48.46	86
	Liberal Party	464,959	22.67	31
	Belgian Labour Party	461,295	22.49	32
	Christene Volkspartij	52,093	2.54	1
	Radical Party	33,840	1.65	2
	Other parties	44,782	2.18	0
Total		2,050,914	100.00	152
Registered voters/turnout		2,269,414	–
Source: Belgian Elections

Senate

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Catholic Party	911,262	52.81	44
	Liberal Party	565,767	32.79	23
	Belgian Labour Party	119,000	6.90	4
	Radical Party	78,195	4.53	4
	Social Radical Party	17,838	1.03	1
	Liberal dissidents	4,633	0.27	0
	Independents	28,970	1.68	0
Total		1,725,665	100.00	76
Registered voters/turnout		2,020,987	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Belgian Elections

Constituencies

The distribution of seats among the electoral districts was as follows for the Chamber of Representatives.^[4] 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.

References