1954 Belgian general election

General elections were held in Belgium on 11 April 1954.[1] The dominant Christian Social Party won 95 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 49 of the 106 seats in the Senate.[2] Voter turnout was 93.2%.[3] Elections for the nine provincial councils were also held.

1954 Belgian general election

11 April 1954
212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jean Van Houtte Achille Van Acker Henri Liebaert Party Christian Social Socialist Liberal Leader since Candidate for PM Candidate for PM 1953 Last election 108 seats, 47.68% 73 seats, 34.51% 20 seats, 11.25% Seats won 95 82 24 Seat change 13 9 4 Popular vote 2,123,408 1,927,015 626,983 Percentage 41.15% 37.34% 12.15% Swing 6.53% 2.83% 0.90%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader N/A Edgard Lalmand Walter Couvreur Party LSK PVDA-PTB CVV Leader since N/A 1943 1954 Last election 4 seats, 1.77% 7 seats, 4.75% New Seats won 5 4 1 Seat change 1 3 New Popular vote 108,175 184,108 113,632 Percentage 2.10% 3.57% 2.20% Swing 0.33% 1.18% New
Chamber seat distribution by constituency
Government before election van Houtte Christian Social Government after election van Acker IV BSP/PSB-Lib

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The outgoing Catholic government led by Jean Van Houtte lost their majority in parliament. The two other main parties, the Socialist and Liberal Party, subsequently formed a rare "purple" government with Achille Van Acker as Prime Minister. Both parties had an anti-clerical agenda and aimed to reverse policies of the Catholic government regarding private schools. This would become known as the Second School War.