At the general elections, the Belgian voter has the possibility to bring out either a vote for a party or a vote for a candidate of the party. At the general elections of April 17, 1977 for the House of Representatives the voters have voted for 50,26 % by preference, whereas for the Senate 40,65 % of them have done so.The use of preferential votes is varying from one electoral district to another: from 69,96 % in the district of Oudenaarde (...) to 32,85 % in Bergen. There is also a difference from one political party to another. The highest percentage is obtained by the PW-PLP : 59,51 % ; the lowest by the KPB-PCB : 30,14 %. The preferential votes individual candidates obtain differ widely, pointing out not only their popularity but also to a certain extend their political power. (shrink)

The administrative map of Belgium was fundamentally altered in 1975, when mergers reduced the number of municipalities from 2359 to 589. This article deals with the mergers of municipalities in the district of Leuven, and in particular with the share the municipalities themselves had in the decision-making process.Although there was a formal possibility of participating in the decision-making process the dissatisfaction has not decreased in comparison with earlier protests against the originally planned mergers.This appears to be logically linked to the (...) scarce results of the municipal advices : only in 4.08 % of the cases the merger was adapted according to the wishes of the municipalities themselves. The lack of coordination among the various advices is certainly one of the reasons of this development, but nevertheless the question remains to what extent gerrymandering and compromises among political parties played a decisive role in the decision-making. (shrink)

At the European elections the Belgian voter has, as at the general elections, the possibility to bring out either a vote for a party or a vote for a candidate of the party. At the European elections of June 17, 1984 the voters have voted for half by preference, whereas in 1979 more than half of them have done so. There is a great difference between the Dutch speaking and the French speaking voters: the first have voted for less than (...) half by preference, the second for more than half. There is also a difference from one politica! party to another. The highest percentage is obtained by the socialist parties, the lowest by the «green» partyAgalev. The preferential votes of individual candidates differ widely, pointing out not only their popularity but also to a certain extend their political power. (shrink)

At the general elections in Belgium, the voter has the possibility to bring out either a vote for a party or a vote for a candidate of the party. At the general elections of December 17, 1978 for the House of Representatives the voters have voted for 51,86 % by preference, whereas for the Senate 41,82 % of them have done so. The use of preferential votes is varying from one electoral district toanother: from 68,30 % in the district of (...) Oudenaarde to 35,74 % in Bergen. There is also a difference from one political party to another. The highest percentage is obtained by the CVP-PSC :61,12 % ; the lowest by the KPB-PCB : 27,34 %. The preferential votes individual candidates obtain differ widely, pointing out not only their popularity but also to a certain extend their political power. (shrink)

België kende in 1991 een bewogen politiek jaar. De houding van de regering in het Golfconflict veroorzaakte spanningen in de regering-Martens VIII, die nog werden aangescherpt door de rel rond de aanwezigheid in het land van Walid Khaled, de woordvoerder van de terreurgroep van Aboe Nidal, waarover het doek pas eind juni viel. Tijdens de zomer stelde de regering, naar jaarlijkse gewoonte, de begroting voor het volgende jaar op. Tevens werden afspraken gemaakt over de verdere hervorming van de staat. Tot (...) een parlementaire behandeling van de begroting en de staatshervorming is het evenwel niet gekomen. Een dispuut over de uitvoer van wapens naar het Golf gebied leidde in september tot een politieke crisis. De Volksunie verliet de regering, die kort daarop aan communautaire tegenstellingen ten onder ging. Bij de vervroegde verkiezingen van 24 november leden de aftredende regeringspartijen verlies. Pogingen om een nieuwe regering op de been te brengen, zaten eind december nog muurvast. (shrink)

Si l'année 1980 avec quatre gouvernements et tout autant de formules gouvernementales ne fut pas un exemple de stabilité mais plutot d'instabilité politique, l'année 1981 ne peut pas davantage être considérée comme une année politiquement stable. Au cours de l'année passée trois gouvernements se sont succédés; de ce fait, en l'espace de deux ans, la Belgique a connu au total sept gouvernements.. Cependant tous ces plans ne contiennent pas de mesures sociales, économiques et financières fondamentales. De telles mesures ont toutefois (...) été annoncées par le gouvernement socio-chrétien-libéral Martens V, qui vit le jour après les élections du 8 novembre - élections remarquables par ailleurs.Ces élections introduisirent également une nouvelle phase dans la réforme d'Etat. L'innovation la plus importante en cette occurrence fut le fait que les trois exécutifs régionaux et communautaires - le Conseil Flamand, le Conseil de la Communauté Française et le Conseil Régional Wallon - ne sont plus nommés par le Roi mais élus au sein des conseils. En outre, les ministres des communautés et des régions ne font plus partie du gouvernement national. (shrink)