2010 Belgian federal election
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All 150 seats in theChamber of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
40 of 71 seats in theSenate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Federal elections were held inBelgiumon 13 June 2010,[1]during the midst of the2007-11 Belgian political crisis.After the fall of the previousLeterme II Governmentover the withdrawal ofOpen Flemish Liberals and Democrats(Open VLD) from the government the King dissolved the legislature and called new elections. TheNew Flemish Alliance,led byBart De Wever,emerged as thepluralityparty with 27 seats, just one more than the francophoneSocialist Party,led byElio Di Rupo,which was the largest party in the Wallonia region and Brussels.[2]It took a world record 541 days until a government was formed, resulting in agovernment led by Di Rupo.[3]
Yves Leterme served as the caretaker prime minister of the country for the period that it had no official government.[4]
Background[edit]
Fall of the government[edit]
Following a continued lack of agreement over how to resolve the conflict over theelectoral arrondissementofBrussels-Halle-Vilvoorde,the liberal Open VLD left thegovernmenton 22 April 2010, continuing the2007–2011 Belgian political crisis.Prime MinisterYves Leterme(Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams,CD&V) immediately offered his resignation toKingAlbert II,who accepted it on 26 April 2010. Following the elections held on 13 June, there were fears that coalition-building may take so long that Belgium'spresidency of the Council of the European Union,which starts on 1 July 2010, might have to start under a caretaker government.[5][6][7]
Constitutionality of elections[edit]
According to a statement by the Flemish President of theConstitutional Court,Marc Bossuyt,the elections might be ruled unconstitutional unless the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde arrondissement is split up beforehand.[8][9][10][11][12]On 4 May, all but one Flemish judge-president of the 13 Flemish Courts of First Instance wrote a collective letter, saying that the elections cannot be held with the current electoral districts and that a return to the previous electoral arrondissements is necessary.[13]In contrast, Ghislain Londers, the president of theCourt of Cassationdeclared that all judges are obliged to cooperate with the electoral process. Before the judges' letters, former president of theBelgian Chamber of RepresentativesHerman De Croostated that no court could prevent the elections from taking place.[12]
Importance of elections[edit]
The international media saw the election as crucial to determine thefuture of the country,even though it was admitted thatdevolutionwould not happen immediately.[14]
Date[edit]
The parliament was dissolved byDeclaration of Revision of the Constitutionon 7 May 2010 and elections were called by royal order of the same day.[15]The period with rules and limits on campaign spending (sperperiode), which normally runs three months prior to election day, started that day.
Voting occurred on Sunday 13 June 2010 between 08:00 and 13:00 in polling stations with paper ballots, and between 08:00 and 15:00 in those with electronic voting.
The newly elected parliament was to convene on 6 July 2010.
Parties[edit]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Kamer-1978-2014.png/300px-Kamer-1978-2014.png)
Flemish parties (Dutch speaking)[edit]
These Flemish parties field candidates in the regions ofFlandersand the partially bilingual electoral districtBrussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.
- New Flemish Alliance(Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie,N-VA) –centre-rightpolitical party, seeking secession of Flanders.
- Christian Democratic and Flemish(Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams,CD&V) –Christian democraticparty with historic ties to bothtrade unionismand corporative organizations.
- Socialist Party – Differently(Socialistische Partij – Anders,sp.a) –social-democraticparty.
- Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats(Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten,open-VLD) –liberalparty.
- Flemish Interest(Vlaams Belang) – seeking the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration.
- Green!(Groen!) –greenpolitical party.
- List Dedecker(Lijst Dedecker) –conservative-liberalparty.
Walloon parties (French speaking)[edit]
TheseFrancophoneparties fielded candidates in theregion of Walloniaand in the electoral districtBrussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.
- Socialist Party(Parti Socialiste,PS) –social-democraticparty.
- Reformist Movement(Mouvement Réformateur,MR) –liberalparty.
- Humanist Democratic Centre(Centre Démocrate Humaniste,CDH) –Christian democraticparty.
- Ecolo–greenpolitical party.
- People's Party(Parti Populaire) –conservative-liberalparty.
Candidates[edit]
Leterme stepped aside on 28 April 2010 and was replaced as leader of CD&V byMarianne Thyssen.[16]
Notable newcomers in politics:
- Rik Torfs,formercanon lawprofessor at theCatholic University of Leuven,was on the Senate list for CD&V.
- Siegfried Bracke,former political analyst at the Flemish public broadcasterVRTwas first on the Chamber list inEast Flandersfor N-VA.
- Eva Brems,human rights professor atGhent Universityand former president of the Flemish division ofAmnesty International.She was head of the Chamber list inFlemish BrabantforGroen!.[17]
Polls[edit]
As of May 26, it appeared that the major development in the election was the surge in popularity of the N-VA in Flanders. Led byBart De Wever,it supports eventual independence for Flanders, and an immediate switch from afederalBelgium to aconfederalBelgium. The N-VA replaces the CD&V of outgoing PM Yves Leterme as the most popular party in Flanders. This development opens the question of how the francophone parties might react to forming a government with an openlysovereigntist,but politically centrist party if they do win a plurality of votes in Flanders. It appeared that the N-VA had attracted some popularity from the ethnic nationalist party,Vlaams Belang.[18]
Flemish constituency | Francophone constituency | ||||||||||||||
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Date | Source | CD&V | N-VA | Open VLD | SP–A | VB | Groen! | LDD | PS | MR–FDF | CDH | Ecolo | FN | PP | RWF |
10 June 2007 | 2007 election | 29.6% | 18.8% | 16.3% | 19.0% | 6.3% | 6.5% | 29.5% | 31.2% | 15.8% | 12.8% | 5.6% | / | / | |
29 March 2010 | La Libre Belgique[19] | 20.0% | 17.8% | 13.8% | 15.5% | 17.3% | 8.1% | 5.5% | 31.7% | 20.5% | 15.5% | 20.2% | / | 4.3% | / |
4 May 2010 | l'Avenir[20] | 18.9% | 22.9% | 14.8% | 14.2% | 12.5% | 7.9% | 3.9% | 32.5% | 21.1% | 18.2% | 17.6% | 2.9% | <1% | 2.0% |
26 May 2010 | Dimarso[21] | 19.5% | 26.0% | 12.4% | 16.0% | 10.3% | 7.8% | 5.4% | |||||||
28 May 2010 | l'Avenir[22] | 33.0% | 20.4% | 17.0% | 17.6% | 2.5% | 1.9% | 1.9% | |||||||
4 June 2010 | Standaard/VRT[23] | 19.0% | 25.2% | 13.9% | 13.8% | 11.5% | 8.2% | 6.2% | |||||||
June 2010 | La Libre Belgique[24] | 16.2% | 26% | 13.6% | 16.3% | 15% | 6.8% | 4.3% | 30% | 20.2% | 16.1% | 18.9% | 4.1% | 4.1% | / |
Results[edit]
After polls showed the N-VA receiving 29% of votes in their region, media interpreted the election as a "victory for Flemish independence".[25]The following tables contain percentages on the national level (i.e. the result of N-VA is 17.4% on the national level, while it is 27.8% on the regional level).
Chamber of Representatives[edit]
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Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
New Flemish Alliance | 1,135,617 | 17.40 | N/A | 27 | +22 | |
Parti Socialiste | 894,543 | 13.70 | +2.84 | 26 | +6 | |
Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams | 707,986 | 10.85 | N/A | 17 | –8 | |
Mouvement Réformateur | 605,617 | 9.28 | –3.24 | 18 | –5 | |
Socialistische Partij Anders | 602,867 | 9.24 | N/A | 13 | –1 | |
Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten | 563,873 | 8.64 | –3.19 | 13 | –5 | |
Vlaams Belang | 506,697 | 7.76 | –4.23 | 12 | –5 | |
Centre démocrate humaniste | 360,441 | 5.52 | –0.53 | 9 | –1 | |
Ecolo | 313,047 | 4.80 | –0.31 | 8 | 0 | |
Groen! | 285,989 | 4.38 | +0.40 | 5 | +1 | |
Lijst Dedecker | 150,577 | 2.31 | –1.72 | 1 | –4 | |
Workers' Party of Belgium | 101,088 | 1.55 | +0.70 | 0 | 0 | |
People's Party | 84,005 | 1.29 | New | 1 | New | |
Wallonie d'Abord | 36,642 | 0.56 | New | 0 | New | |
Rassemblement Wallonie France | 35,743 | 0.55 | +0.15 | 0 | 0 | |
National Front | 33,591 | 0.51 | –1.45 | 0 | –1 | |
Front des gauches | 20,734 | 0.32 | New | 0 | New | |
BELG.UNIE | 20,665 | 0.32 | New | 0 | New | |
Front National+ | 11,553 | 0.18 | New | 0 | New | |
Pro Bruxsel | 7,201 | 0.11 | New | 0 | New | |
Left Socialist Party | 6,791 | 0.10 | New | 0 | New | |
Parti Pensionné PP | 6,688 | 0.10 | New | 0 | New | |
Vivant | 6,211 | 0.10 | +0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
Wallon+ | 5,857 | 0.09 | New | 0 | New | |
EGALITE | 5,670 | 0.09 | New | 0 | New | |
RESPECT | 5,630 | 0.09 | New | 0 | New | |
Mouvement socialiste plus | 2,827 | 0.04 | New | 0 | New | |
MP Éducation | 2,572 | 0.04 | +0.02 | 0 | 0 | |
Vital | 2,259 | 0.03 | +0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
Pirate Party | 2,200 | 0.03 | New | 0 | New | |
Vrijheid | 1,576 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New | |
N | 610 | 0.01 | New | 0 | New | |
Total | 6,527,367 | 100.00 | – | 150 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 6,527,367 | 94.19 | ||||
Invalid/blank votes | 402,488 | 5.81 | ||||
Total votes | 6,929,855 | 100.00 | ||||
Registered voters/turnout | 7,767,552 | 89.22 | ||||
Source:IBZ |
Details[edit]
Results by party (seats)[edit]
Region | Seats won per party | Total seats | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constituency | N-VA | CD&V | SP.A | VLD | VB | GROEN! | LDD | ||
![]() Flanders |
![]() |
8 / 24
|
4 / 24
|
3 / 24
|
3 / 24
|
4 / 24
|
2 / 24
|
— | 24 / 88
|
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3 / 9
|
2 / 9
|
1 / 9
|
2 / 9
|
1 / 9
|
— | — | 9 / 88
| |
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6 / 20
|
3 / 20
|
3 / 20
|
4 / 20
|
3 / 20
|
1 / 20
|
— | 20 / 88
| |
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2 / 7
|
1 / 7
|
1 / 7
|
1 / 7
|
1 / 7
|
1 / 7
|
— | 7 / 88
| |
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4 / 12
|
3 / 12
|
2 / 12
|
1 / 12
|
2 / 12
|
— | — | 12 / 88
| |
![]() |
4 / 16
|
4 / 16
|
3 / 16
|
2 / 16
|
1 / 16
|
1 / 16
|
1 / 16
|
16 / 88
| |
Total | 27 / 88
|
17 / 88
|
13 / 88
|
13 / 88
|
12 / 88
|
5 / 88
|
1 / 88
|
88 / 88
| |
PS | MR | CDH | ECOLO | PP | |||||
![]() Wallonia |
![]() |
4 / 13
|
5 / 13
|
2 / 13
|
2 / 13
|
— | 13 / 62
| ||
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11 / 19
|
4 / 19
|
2 / 19
|
2 / 19
|
— | 19 / 62
| |||
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7 / 15
|
4 / 15
|
2 / 15
|
2 / 15
|
— | 15 / 62
| |||
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1 / 4
|
1 / 4
|
2 / 4
|
— | — | 4 / 62
| |||
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2 / 6
|
2 / 6
|
1 / 6
|
1 / 6
|
— | 6 / 62
| |||
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1 / 5
|
2 / 5
|
— | 1 / 5
|
1 / 5
|
5 / 62
| |||
Total | 26 / 62
|
18 / 62
|
9 / 62
|
8 / 62
|
1 / 62
|
62 / 62
|
Results by electoral constituencies (percentages)[edit]
Region | % won per party | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constituency | N-VA | CD&V | SP.A | VLD | VB | GROEN! | LDD | Others | |
Flanders | Antwerp | 30.71 | 15.53 | 14.32 | 11.03 | 16.15 | 7.69 | 2.29 | 2.28 |
B.H.V. | 12.23 | 6.94 | 4.64 | 7.17 | 5.03 | * | — | — | |
East Flanders | 28.15 | 15.40 | 14.15 | 17.40 | 12.33 | 7.36 | 3.19 | 2.04 | |
Leuven | 27.05 | 16.26 | 17.79 | 14.51 | 9.61 | 9.79 | 3.14 | 1.86 | |
Limburg | 28.83 | 18.81 | 18.14 | 12.10 | 12.79 | 4.81 | 2.89 | 1.62 | |
West Flanders | 23.89 | 23.01 | 15.13 | 13.53 | 9.07 | 6.31 | 7.67 | 1.27 | |
PS | MR | CDH | ECOLO | PP | |||||
Wallonia | B.H.V. | 16.74 | 19.17 | 8.07 | 7.99 | — | 12.01* | ||
Hainaut | 48.18 | 17.52 | 11.47 | 9.41 | 2.75 | 10.67 | |||
Liège | 35.79 | 22.30 | 13.93 | 13.83 | 3.08 | 11.07 | |||
Luxembourg | 28.49 | 19.54 | 31.41 | 11.71 | 2.44 | 6.41 | |||
Namur | 32.20 | 24.65 | 15.92 | 13.38 | 3.12 | 10.73 | |||
Walloon Brabant | 22.48 | 35.79 | 12.89 | 16.33 | 5.04 | 7.47 |
Senate[edit]
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
New Flemish Alliance | 1,268,780 | 19.61 | N/A | 9 | +8 | |
Parti Socialiste | 880,828 | 13.62 | +3.37 | 7 | +3 | |
Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams | 646,375 | 9.99 | N/A | 4 | –4 | |
Socialistische Partij Anders | 613,079 | 9.48 | N/A | 4 | 0 | |
Mouvement Réformateur | 599,618 | 9.27 | –3.04 | 4 | –2 | |
Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten | 533,124 | 8.24 | –4.16 | 4 | –1 | |
Vlaams Belang | 491,547 | 7.60 | –4.29 | 3 | –2 | |
Ecolo | 353,111 | 5.46 | –0.36 | 2 | 0 | |
Centre démocrate humaniste | 331,870 | 5.13 | –0.77 | 2 | 0 | |
Groen! | 251,546 | 3.89 | +0.25 | 1 | 0 | |
Lijst Dedecker | 130,779 | 2.02 | –1.36 | 0 | –1 | |
Workers' Party of Belgium | 105,060 | 1.62 | +0.80 | 0 | 0 | |
People's Party | 98,858 | 1.53 | New | 0 | New | |
Wallonie d'Abord | 62,251 | 0.96 | New | 0 | New | |
Rassemblement Wallonie France | 40,393 | 0.62 | +0.14 | 0 | 0 | |
Front des gauches | 28,346 | 0.44 | New | 0 | New | |
Vivant | 15,462 | 0.24 | New | 0 | New | |
Left Socialist Party | 7,841 | 0.12 | New | 0 | New | |
Committee for Another Policy | 6,254 | 0.10 | –0.10 | 0 | 0 | |
Mouvement socialiste plus | 3,981 | 0.06 | New | 0 | New | |
Total | 6,469,103 | 100.00 | – | 40 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 6,469,103 | 93.36 | ||||
Invalid/blank votes | 460,375 | 6.64 | ||||
Total votes | 6,929,478 | 100.00 | ||||
Registered voters/turnout | 7,767,552 | 89.21 | ||||
Source:IBZ |
Chamber of Representatives (geographically)[edit]
These maps depict the largest party in each constituency.
Dutch-speaking constituencies[edit]
Brussels, French- & German-speaking constituencies[edit]
Most popular candidates[edit]
Candidates receiving the highest number ofpreferential votes.
For the Senate:[26]
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For the Chamber:[27]
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Government formation[edit]
On possible coalitions, election winner Bart De Wever announced he would seek negotiations with the Francophone Socialist Party.[28]The Socialist Party leader Elio di Rupo was tapped to become the next Prime Minister, because the socialist parties emerged as the largest "party family" in the elections, and because the New Flemish Alliance lacks a Francophone counterpart.[29][30][31]
Philip Blenkinsop of Reuters stated that the win of the New Flemish Alliance could have negative effects because "Belgium can ill afford drawn-out coalition talks because it has a large debt and any policy paralysis could make the country vulnerable on financial markets that are closely watching asovereign debt crisis."[32]
Coalition formation continued for a record-breaking 541 days, with a government under Elio Di Rupo eventually being formed on 6 December 2011 after agreement was reached on the 2012 budget. TheDi Rupo I Governmentincluded the Liberal, Socialist and Christian Democratic parties from both Flanders and Wallonia. The government excludes theNew Flemish Alliance(N-VA), the Greens ofGroenandEcolo,Vlaams Belangon the right, theLijst Dedeckerand thePeople's Party.N-VA's absence, together with the unwillingness of Open Vld to enter into an eight-party coalition that included the green parties, meant the government coalition lacked a majority in the Dutch language group. It was the first time that the Belgian prime minister has been openly gay and the world'sfirst male openly gayhead of government[33]Belgium was thus the second European country to have ahomosexualprime minister, afterIceland(Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir).Elio Di Rupowas the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979 and the firstWalloonprime minister since 1974.
References[edit]
- ^"It's a June 13th election".deredactie.be. 2010-05-05. Archived fromthe originalon 2010-05-14.Retrieved2010-05-06.
- ^Zuvela, Matt and Connor, Richard (13 June 2010).Party supporting Belgian division claims election victory.Deutsche Welle.Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ^"Belgium to have new government after world record 541 days".The Daily Telegraph.Archivedfrom the original on 2023-05-31.
- ^Mulvey, Stephen (2011-06-13)."Life without government, the Belgian way".BBC News.Retrieved2018-01-31.
- ^"Belgium's government falls, future unity on line".Montreal Gazette. 2010-04-26. Archived fromthe originalon 29 April 2010.Retrieved2010-05-01.
- ^"Belgium's king accepts government's resignation".Irish Examiner. 2010-04-26.Retrieved2010-05-01.
- ^"Belgischer König akzeptiert Rücktritt von Regierungschef"(in German). Nzz.ch. 2010-04-26.Archivedfrom the original on 29 April 2010.Retrieved2010-05-01.
- ^"Regierung Leterme endgültig gescheitert"(in German). Derstandard.at. 2010-04-26.Archivedfrom the original on 29 April 2010.Retrieved2010-05-01.
- ^"Verkiezingen 2009 ongrondwettelijk zonder oplossing BHV"(in Dutch).De Morgen.2007-11-13.Retrieved2007-11-14.
- ^"Geen verkiezingen zonder oplossing BHV"(in Dutch).Vrtnieuws.net.2007-11-13.Archivedfrom the original on 14 November 2007.Retrieved2007-11-13.
- ^"Zonder oplossing BHV geen grondwettelijke verkiezingen"(in Dutch).De Standaard.2007-11-13.Archivedfrom the original on 14 November 2007.Retrieved2007-11-14.
- ^ab"Marc Bossuyt entame sa présidence en force"(in French).La Libre Belgique.2007-11-14.Retrieved2007-11-14.
- ^"Rechters hebben de plicht mee te werken aan verkiezingen"(in Dutch). Hbvl.be. 2010-05-04.Archivedfrom the original on 7 May 2010.Retrieved2010-05-06.
- ^"Unity at stake in Belgium vote - Europe".Al Jazeera English.Archivedfrom the original on 15 June 2010.Retrieved2010-06-15.
- ^7 MEI 2010. - Koninklijk besluit houdende bijeenroeping van de kiescolleges voor de verkiezing van de federale Wetgevende Kamers en bijeenroeping van de nieuwe federale Wetgevende Kamers
- ^"Belgian leader steps aside, early election ahead".foxnews.Associated Press. 28 April 2010.Retrieved28 February2019.
- ^Bio Eva Brems – Groen!Archived2010-06-11 at theWayback MachineRetrieved on 2010-06-14
- ^Jean Quatremer (2010-05-26)."Belgique: les indépendantistes flamands ont le vent en poupe"(in French). Liberation.Archivedfrom the original on 28 May 2010.Retrieved2010-05-26.
- ^Auteur: loa (2009-04-30)."De Standaard Online - N-VA tweede grootste in peiling La Libre-RTL".Standaard.be.Retrieved2010-06-15.
- ^Elections: Vers l'Avenir polls N-VA first in Flanders (in French),L'Écho,4
- ^Elections: N-VA polls at 26%, first party in Flanders (in French),La DH,27
- ^[1][dead link]
- ^TNS-Media/Dimarso poll ordered by De Standaard and VRT,4
- ^IPSOS poll ordered by La Libre Belgique,Francophone results only for Wallonia, the francophone poll for Brussels is not included in these results, June
- ^"Belgique: victoire large et historique des indépendantistes flamands - Libération".Liberation.fr.Archivedfrom the original on 15 June 2010.Retrieved2010-06-15.
- ^Senate
- ^Chamber
- ^Keine Lösung des Sprachenstreits in Sicht.No solution for language disputeArchived2010-06-16 at theWayback Machine(in German).orf.at.Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ^Fallon, Amy (14 June 2010).Belgian election win for party that wants to split nation.The Guardian.Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ^Erdrutschsieg für flämische Separatisten.Landslide victory for flemish separatists(in German).Der Standard.Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ^Belgian elections: who could be next prime minister?.The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ^Blenkinsop, Philip."Separatists claim victory in Belgian election".Leaderpost. Archived fromthe originalon 19 June 2010.Retrieved2010-06-15.
- ^Jackson, Patrick."Profile: Belgium's Elio Di Rupo".BBC.Retrieved8 December2011.
External links[edit]
- Tractothèque - Electoral posters and leaflets
- NSD: European Election Database - BelgiumArchived2010-08-12 at theWayback Machinepublishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1991–2010