1999 Belgian federal election

Federal elections were held in Belgium on June 13, 1999 to elect members of the Chamber of Representatives and Senate. The elections were held on the same day as the European elections and the regional elections. The Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) became the largest party.

1999 Belgian federal election

13 June 1999 (1999-06-13)
All 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 40 of 71 seats in the Senate respectively 76 and 36 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	90.56%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Guy Verhofstadt Jean-Luc Dehaene Elio Di Rupo Party Open Vld CVP PS Leader since 1997 Candidate for PM 1999 Last election 21 seats, 13.1% 29 seats, 17.18% 21 seats, 11.87% Seats before 21 29 21 Seats won 23 22 19 Seat change 2 7 2 Popular vote 888,861 875,455 631,653 Percentage 14.30% 14.09% 10.16% Swing 1.15% 3.09% 1.71%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   sp.a Leader Louis Michel Frank Vanhecke Fred Erdman Party MR VB sp.a Leader since 1995 1996 1998 Last election 18 seats, 10.26% 11 seats, 7.83% 14 seats, 12.56% Seats before 18 11 20 Seats won 18 15 14 Seat change 4 6 Popular vote 630,219 613,399 593,372 Percentage 10.14% 9.87% 9.55% Swing 0.12% 2.04% 3.01%
Government before election Dehaene II CVP-PSC-PS-SP Government after election Verhofstadt I VLD-PRL-PS-SP-Agalev-Ecolo

The Christian Democrats (CVP/PSC) suffered historic losses due to the dioxine affair that broke loose that year. Jean-Luc Dehaene's reign of eight years came to an end. Verhofstadt formed a six-party coalition comprising the liberal (VLD and PRL), socialist (SP and PS), and green parties (Agalev and Ecolo). It was the first liberal-led government since 1938, and the first since 1958 that didn't include a Christian Democratic party.

Results

Chamber of Representatives

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Flemish Liberals and Democrats	888,861	14.30	23	+2
	Christian People's Party	875,455	14.09	22	–7
	Parti Socialist	631,653	10.16	19	–2
	Liberal Reformist Party–Democratic Front of Francophones	630,219	10.14	18	0
	Vlaams Blok	613,399	9.87	15	+4
	Socialistische Partij	593,372	9.55	14	–6
	Ecolo	457,281	7.36	11	+5
	Agalev	434,449	6.99	9	+4
	Christian Social Party	365,318	5.88	10	–2
	People's Union	345,576	5.56	8	+3
	Vivant	130,701	2.10	0	New
	National Front	90,401	1.45	1	–1
	Workers' Party of Belgium	25,215	0.41	0	0
	Communist Party	23,081	0.37	0	0
	Party for a New Politics in Belgium	22,591	0.36	0	New
	New Belgian Front	22,491	0.36	0	New
	WALLON	11,863	0.19	0	0
	Aging with Dignity (Flanders)	8,033	0.13	0	0
	FRANCE	7,493	0.12	0	New
	Alliance	4,001	0.06	0	New
	PJU–PDB	2,945	0.05	0	0
	Social-Liberal Democrats	2,623	0.04	0	New
	Social Democrat Party	1,928	0.03	0	New
	LEEF	1,703	0.03	0	New
	Employment is Investing in the Future	1,610	0.03	0	0
	Alliance for Truth and Law in Belgium	1,597	0.03	0	New
	Belgian Indian with No Name	1,488	0.02	0	New
	Noor	1,244	0.02	0	New
	Democratic Union	1,119	0.02	0	New
	For a Movement in Defence of Workers and Youth	1,068	0.02	0	New
	NP	943	0.02	0	New
	National Front – Walloon Federation	859	0.01	0	New
	Front of the Belgian Nation–Party	671	0.01	0	New
	People's Nationalist Party	656	0.01	0	0
	Stardust	649	0.01	0	New
	VIC	636	0.01	0	New
	Democratic Right	607	0.01	0	New
	Referendum	601	0.01	0	0
	Militant Left	438	0.01	0	New
	Parti Communautaire National-Européen	399	0.01	0	0
	Humanist Party	369	0.01	0	New
	Civic List	242	0.00	0	New
	Paradise Action Party	105	0.00	0	New
	Other parties	8,121	0.13	0	–
Total		6,214,074	100.00	150	0
Valid votes		6,214,074	93.44
Invalid/blank votes		435,941	6.56
Total votes		6,650,015	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		7,343,464	90.56
Source: Belgian Elections, Global Elections Database

Senate

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Won	Community	Co-opted	Total
	Flemish Liberals and Democrats	952,116	15.37	6	3	2	11
	Christian People's Party	913,508	14.75	6	3	1	10
	Liberal Reformist Party–Democratic Front of Francophones	654,961	10.57	5	3	1	9
	Parti Socialiste	597,890	9.65	4	4	2	10
	Vlaams Blok	583,208	9.42	4	1	1	6
	Socialistische Partij	550,657	8.89	4	1	1	6
	Ecolo	458,658	7.40	3	3	0	6
	Agalev	438,931	7.09	3	1	1	5
	Christian Social Party	374,002	6.04	3	1	1	5
	People's Union	317,830	5.13	2	1	0	3
	Vivant	123,498	1.99	0	0	0	0
	National Front	92,924	1.50	0	0	0	0
	Workers' Party of Belgium	35,493	0.57	0	0	0	0
	Party for a New Politics in Belgium	26,124	0.42	0	0	0	0
	New Belgian Front	23,382	0.38	0	0	0	0
	Communist Party	21,991	0.36	0	0	0	0
	Social-Liberal Democrats	7,446	0.12	0	0	0	0
	Democratic Union	7,368	0.12	0	0	0	0
	PJU–PDB	6,372	0.10	0	0	0	0
	VLAAMS	4,902	0.08	0	0	0	0
	Parti Communautaire National-Européen	3,110	0.05	0	0	0	0
Total		6,194,371	100.00	40	21	10	71
Valid votes		6,194,371	93.14
Invalid/blank votes		456,425	6.86
Total votes		6,650,796	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		7,343,466	90.57
Source: Belgian Elections