1991 Belgian general election

General elections were held in Belgium on 24 November 1991 to elect members of the Chamber of Representatives and Senate. The results represented a big loss for the majority parties (Christian democrats and Socialists) and significant gains for the Vlaams Blok. The day became known as "black Sunday" due to the rise of the far-right party.

1991 Belgian general election

24 November 1991
212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives All 70 seats in the Senate
First party Second party Third party   PS Leader Wilfried Martens Guy Spitaels Frank Vandenbroucke Party CVP PS sp.a Leader since Candidate for PM 1981 1989 Last election 43 seats, 19.5% 40 seats, 15.6% 32 seats, 14.9% Seats won 39 35 28 Seat change 4 5 4 Popular vote 1,035,165 831,199 737,976 Percentage 16.8% 13.5% 12.0% Swing 2.7% 2.1% 2.9%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   PRL Leader Guy Verhofstadt Antoine Duquesne and Daniel Ducarme Gérard Deprez Party Open Vld PRL cdH Leader since 1989 1990 1981 Last election 25 seats, 11.5% 23 seats, 9.4% 19 seats, 8.0% Seats won 26 20 18 Seat change 1 3 1 Popular vote 738,016 501,647 476,470 Percentage 12.0% 8.1% 7.7% Swing 0.5% 1.3% 0.3%
Results by constituency for the Chamber of Representatives Senate results by constituency
Government before election Martens IX CVP-PSC-PS-SP Government after election Martens IX CVP-PSC-PS-SP

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These were the last elections before the new 1993 Belgian Constitution, which turned Belgium formally into a federal state: after this election, the number of MPs were reduced while the regional parliaments would become directly elected. The provincial elections would no longer coincide with national elections, but with municipal elections.

By law of 16 July 1991, experiments with electronic voting were carried out for the first time in Belgium during these elections, specifically in the canton of Verlaine (Liège Province) and the canton of Waarschoot (province of East Flanders).