Belgian general election, 1878

← 1876

11 June 1878 (1878-06-11)

1880 →

66 of the 132 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
67 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Party	Liberal	Catholic
Last election	57 seats	67 seats
Seats won	72	60
Seat change	15	7

Government before election

Malou I
Catholic

Elected Government

Frère-Orban II
Liberal

Malou I
Catholic

Frère-Orban II
Liberal

Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 11 June, 18 June and 15 July 1878. The result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 72 of the 132 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 36 of the 66 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 62.5%, although only 56,640 people were eligible to vote.

Under the alternating system, elections for the Chamber of Representatives were only held in four out of the nine provinces: Hainaut, Limburg, Liège and East Flanders. Additionally, special elections were held in the arrondissements of Antwerp, Brussels and Kortrijk after these electoral districts got one extra seat due to population growth.

They were the first elections with strict guarantees for secret ballots, which contributed to the success of the liberals.

The distribution of seats among the electoral districts was as follows for the Chamber of Representatives, with the difference compared to the previous election due to population growth:

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