1985 Belgian general election First party Second party Third party PS
Leader Wilfried Martens Guy Spitaels Karel Van Miert Party CVP PS sp.a Leader since Candidate for PM 1981 1978 Last election 43 seats, 19.34% 35 seats, 12.17% 26 seats, 12.36% Seats won 49 35 32 Seat change 6 6 Popular vote 1,291,244 834,488 882,200 Percentage 21.29% 13.76% 14.55% Swing 1.95% 1.59% 2.19% Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party Leader Louis Michel Guy Verhofstadt Gérard Deprez Party PRL Open Vld cdH Leader since 1982 1982 1981 Last election 24 seats, 7.97% 28 seats, 12.89% 18 seats, 6.49% Seats won 24 22 20 Seat change 6 2 Popular vote 619,390 651,806 482,254 Percentage 10.21% 10.75% 7.95% Swing 2.24% 2.14% 1.50%
Chamber of Representatives results Senate election results
Prime Minister Martens General elections were held in Belgium on 13 October 1985. The Christian People's Party emerged as the largest party, with 49 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 25 of the 106 seats in the Senate . Elections to the nine provincial councils were also held.
The incumbent government was a coalition of Christian democrats (CVP/PSC) and liberals (PVV/PRL) led by Prime Minister Wilfried Martens . Following the elections, the same parties formed a new Martens Government. Guy Verhofstadt , PVV leader since 1982, was elected for the first time as representative. Despite PVV being the only governing party to lose seats, he was able to weigh on the government agreement and he became Deputy Prime Minister in the Martens VI Government. The government would fall two years later due to the Voeren issue; distrust of labour unions in Verhofstadt proved to be a factor as well.
Chamber of Representatives [ edit ] Party Votes % Seats +/– Christian People's Party 1,291,244 21.29 49 +6 Socialistische Partij 882,200 14.55 32 +6 Parti Socialiste 834,488 13.76 35 0 Party for Freedom and Progress 651,806 10.75 22 –6 Liberal Reformist Party 619,390 10.21 24 0 Social Christian Party (PSC) 482,254 7.95 20 +2 People's Union 477,755 7.88 16 –4 Agalev 226,758 3.74 4 +2 Ecolo 152,483 2.51 5 +3 Vlaams Blok 85,391 1.41 1 0 Democratic Front of Francophones 72,361 1.19 3 – Communist Party of Belgium 71,695 1.18 0 –2 Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour 69,707 1.15 1 –2 Workers' Party of Belgium 46,034 0.76 0 0 Solidarity and Participation 31,983 0.53 0 New Socialist Workers' Party 13,681 0.23 0 0 Green 9,719 0.16 0 New Walloon Party 9,284 0.15 0 New Organic Front for the Cultural Renewal of Solidarist Europe 8,221 0.14 0 New Union for a New Democracy 6,609 0.11 0 New Party of German-speaking Belgians 5,228 0.09 0 0 National Front 3,738 0.06 0 New Christian Liberal Party 3,442 0.06 0 New Parti Communautaire National-Européen 1,763 0.03 0 New Zo Maar 1,630 0.03 0 New United Feminist Party 1,201 0.02 0 0 Union of Progressive Walloons 828 0.01 0 New Flemish People's Party 678 0.01 0 New Charlier 655 0.01 0 New GIOT 640 0.01 0 New Humanist Party 518 0.01 0 New Appeal to All 464 0.01 0 New SDU–USD 412 0.01 0 New Total 6,064,260 100.00 212 0 Valid votes 6,064,260 92.55 Invalid/blank votes 487,974 7.45 Total votes 6,552,234 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 7,001,297 93.59 Source: Belgian Elections
Party Votes % Seats +/– Christian People's Party 1,260,113 21.02 25 +3 Socialistische Partij 868,624 14.49 16 +3 Parti Socialiste 832,792 13.89 18 0 Party for Freedom and Progress 637,776 10.64 11 –3 Liberal Reformist Party 588,373 9.82 13 +2 People's Union 484,996 8.09 8 –2 Social Christian Party 475,119 7.93 10 +2 Agalev 229,206 3.82 2 +1 Ecolo 163,361 2.73 2 –1 Vlaams Blok 90,120 1.50 0 0 Democratic Union for the Respect of Labour 73,045 1.22 0 –1 Communist Party of Belgium 71,020 1.18 0 –1 Democratic Front of Francophones 70,239 1.17 1 – Workers' Party of Belgium 44,799 0.75 0 0 Solidarity and Participation 33,554 0.56 0 New Socialist Workers' Party 16,786 0.28 0 0 Green 10,988 0.18 0 New Walloon Party 10,539 0.18 0 New Organic Front for the Cultural Renewal of Solidarist Europe 9,318 0.16 0 New Union for a New Democracy 7,200 0.12 0 New Party of German-speaking Belgians 5,364 0.09 0 New National Front 4,201 0.07 0 New Christian Liberal Party 3,267 0.05 0 New United Feminist Party 1,430 0.02 0 0 Parti Communautaire National-Européen 1,312 0.02 0 New Flemish People's Party 446 0.01 0 New Paix 443 0.01 0 0 Total 5,994,431 100.00 106 0 Valid votes 5,994,431 91.48 Invalid/blank votes 558,259 8.52 Total votes 6,552,690 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 7,001,297 93.59 Source: Belgian Elections