1961 Belgian general election

General elections were held in Belgium on 26 March 1961.[1] The result was a victory for the Christian Social Party, which won 96 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 47 of the 106 seats in the Senate.[2] Voter turnout was 92.3%.[3] Elections for the nine provincial councils were also held.

1961 Belgian general election

26 March 1961
212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
First party Second party Third party   Leader Théo Lefèvre Léo Collard Roger Motz Party Christian Social Socialist Liberal Leader since Candidate for PM 1959 1958 Last election 104 seats, 46.50% 80 seats, 35.79% 20 seats, 11.05% Seats won 96 84 20 Seat change 8 4 Popular vote 2,182,642 1,933,424 649,376 Percentage 41.46% 36.72% 12.33% Swing 5.04% 0.93% 1.28%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Frans Van der Elst Ernest Burnelle Jean-Marie Evrard Party VU PVDA-PTB RN Leader since 1955 1954 1959 Last election 1 seat, 1.98% 2 seats, 1.89% New Seats won 5 5 1 Seat change 4 3 New Popular vote 182,407 162,238 42,450 Percentage 3.46% 3.08% 0.81% Swing 1.48% 1.19% New
Chamber seat distribution by constituency
Government before election G. Eyskens IV CVP/PSC-Lib Government after election Lefèvre CVP/PSC-BSP/PSB

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Prior to the elections, the centre-right government of the Christian Social and Liberal Party led by Gaston Eyskens pushed through austerity measures with a law known as the Eenheidswet or Loi Unique, despite heavy strikes in the preceding weeks, especially in Wallonia. After the elections, the Christian Democrats formed a new government with the Socialist Party instead of the Liberal Party, with Théo Lefèvre as Prime Minister.