Belgian general election, 2007 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 2007 Belgian general election took place on Sunday 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to elect new members for the Chamber of Representatives and Senate

Belgian Senate

The Belgian Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parliament.-History and future:...

.

Eligible voters were Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

citizens 18 years and older. There was a legal electoral threshold of 5% for political parties to meet to receive representation, but in several election districts the real electoral threshold is higher than the legal, due to the small number of seats to be elected in the particular district. The 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected from 11 electoral districts. The 40 Senate members were elected from the Dutch (25) and Francophone (15) electoral colleges.

Of the Flemish parties, the alliance of Christian Democratic and Flemish

Christian Democratic and Flemish

The Christian Democratic and Flemish is a political party of Belgium, formerly called Christian People's Party...

party (CD&V) and the New-Flemish Alliance

New-Flemish Alliance

' is a Flemish right-wing political party, founded in the autumn of 2001. It is a conservative and liberal movement that promotes civic nationalism...

(N-VA) received an increased share of the vote from the previous election, held in 2003. The CD&V/N-VA list was headed by Yves Leterme

Yves Leterme

Yves Camille Désiré Leterme is a Flemish Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party , and the 48th Prime Minister of Belgium.Leterme was the Prime Minister of Belgium from March 2008 to December 2008...

, and became the largest political formation in Belgium, thus leading the coalition talks for a new government. Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang

Vlaams Belang

Vlaams Belang is a Belgian far-right political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels that advocates the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration, whereby immigrants would be obliged to adopt Flemish culture and language...

) received more votes than in the previous election, but lost one seat. Green!

Green!

Groen! is a Belgian green political party. Green! is the smallest Flemish party with a representation in the federal, regional or European parliament.-Before 1979:...

was able to return to parliament and newcomers List Dedecker (Lijst Dedecker) surprised most by immediately grabbing six seats, including one in the Senate. Prime minister Guy Verhofstadt

Guy Verhofstadt

Guy Verhofstadt is a Belgian politician who was the 47th Prime Minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament and leader of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.- Early career :...

's "purple coalition

Purple (government)

Purple is a common term in politics for governments or other political entities consisting of parties that have red and blue as their political colours...

," consisting of his Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD) alliance list and Socialist Party – Different (SP.A/SPIRIT), was punished in the election, with the SP.A/SPIRIT alliance losing somewhat more than Verhofstadt's Open VLD alliance. The day after the election, Verhofstadt handed in the resignation of his government to King Albert II

Albert II of Belgium

Albert II is the current reigning King of the Belgians, a constitutional monarch. He is a member of the royal house "of Belgium"; formerly this house was named Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...

. SP.A leader Johan Vande Lanotte

Johan Vande Lanotte

Johan Cyrille Corneel Vande Lanotte is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the SP.A, and became its party president on 15 October 2005...

resigned from his leadership position as well that day.

The Francophone situation did not mirror its Flemish counterpart. While Verhofstadt's Open VLD struggled, its Francophone sister party Mouvement Réformateur

Reformist Movement

The Reformist Movement is a French-speaking liberal political party in Belgium. The party was in coalition as part of the Leterme II Government, and was also part of the governing coalition in the Walloon Region and Brussels-Capital Region until the 2004 regional elections...

managed to defeat the long-dominant Parti Socialiste

Socialist Party (francophone Belgium)

The Socialist Party is a Francophone social-democratic political party in Belgium. As of the 2010 elections, it is the second largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the largest Francophone party...

(PS), although the PS remained strong in Hainaut and Liège

Liège (province)

Liège is the easternmost province of Belgium and belongs to the Walloon Region. It is an area of French and German ethnicity. It borders on the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and in Belgium the provinces of Luxembourg, Namur, Walloon Brabant , and those of Flemish Brabant and Limburg . Its...

. The Humanist Democratic Centre

Humanist Democratic Centre

The Humanist Democratic Centre is a Francophone Christian democratic political party in Belgium. The cdH currently participates in the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, the Government of the French Community and the Walloon Government.- History :...

brought in a positive result as well, but the biggest gains were for the environmentalist party Ecolo

Ecolo

Ecolo is a French-speaking Belgian green political party in Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking Community of Belgium...

.

The overall outcome of the elections was that the liberal fraction (MR, VLD) became the largest group in parliament with, followed by the Christian Democrats (CD&V, Cdh) and N-VA with 40 seats. The electoral alliance between the Flemish CD&V and N-VA parties became the biggest single parliamentary grouping (25 seats for CD&V and 5 for N-VA).

Background

The previous general election in 2003 had resulted in a coalition between the socialist parties SP.a/Spirit

Spirit (Belgium)

' was a Belgian Flemish political party formed after dissolution of the moderate nationalist People's Union party. Prior to 19 April 2008 it was known as Spirit, and intermediately as Flemish Progressives...

(Flemish) and the Parti Socialiste

Socialist Party (francophone Belgium)

(Francophone), and the centrist liberal-democratic parties VLD/Vivant

Vivant

Vivant is a small Belgian social liberal party founded by millionaire Roland Duchâtelet. In the regional elections in June 2004, the party formed a strategic alliance with the Flemish Liberals and Democrats . Both parties are founded on the principle of individualism and can be called liberal...

(Flemish) and MR

Reformist Movement

(Francophone), with Guy Verhofstadt

Guy Verhofstadt

of the VLD to retaining his position of Prime Minister of Belgium until 2007.

Flemish parties (Dutch speaking)

These Flemish parties field candidates in the regions of Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

and the partially bilingual electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde is a Belgian electoral and judicial arrondissement in the center of the country, encompassing:* the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides...

CD&V/N-VA

The Christian Democratic and Flemish

Christian Democratic and Flemish

The Christian Democratic and Flemish is a political party of Belgium, formerly called Christian People's Party...

party (CD&V) is a Christian Democratic

Christian Democracy

Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...

party that has formed an alliance with the Flemish nationalist party New-Flemish Alliance

New-Flemish Alliance

' is a Flemish right-wing political party, founded in the autumn of 2001. It is a conservative and liberal movement that promotes civic nationalism...

(N-VA). Most polls in the run-up to the election suggested that the alliance would win the election and become the largest political force in Flanders. It is led by Yves Leterme

Yves Leterme

, current prime minister of the Flemish Region and Community.

Having become the largest political party in the Belgian Chamber after the 2007 election, the alliance will become the fulcrum of the coalition talks for a new government. Commentators suggest that coalition talks will be difficult, as most Francophone parties see the alliance as being overly Flemish-dominated.

VB

It was the first time that the Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang, VB) had taken part in federal elections under its new name. Ostracized by all other political parties because of its views on Flemish independence and immigration, the VB is unlikely to take part in a new government. The VB's lists also included members of the right-liberal Flemish Liberal Independent Tolerant and Transparent party (VLOTT

VLOTT

VLOTT is a Belgian right-wing liberal or fortuynist political party. The acronym VLOTT stands for Flemish Liberal Independent Tolerant and Transparent . It was founded on November 23, 2005 by ex-Flemish Liberals and Democrats member Hugo Coveliers...

) of Hugo Coveliers

Hugo Coveliers

Hugo F.V. Coveliers is a Belgian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives between 1985 and 1995 and from 1993 to 2003. Since 2003 he has been a member of the Belgian Senate...

SP.a/Spirit

The Socialistische Partij Anders is a social-democratic party and has formed a cartel list with the Flemish regionalist and left liberal party Spirit

Spirit (Belgium)

. Like their coalition partner VLD, they lost heavily in the election, which prompted SP.A party leader Johan Vande Lanotte

Johan Vande Lanotte

Johan Cyrille Corneel Vande Lanotte is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the SP.A, and became its party president on 15 October 2005...

to step down. Vande Lanotte made it also clear that the alliance will not take part in a federal government whose sole concern is state reform.

Open VLD

Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD) is the alliance list of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) of prime minister Guy Verhofstadt

Guy Verhofstadt

, and the small liberal political parties Vivant

Vivant

(left-liberal) and Liberal Appeal (Liberaal Appèl) (right-liberal).

The VLD has seen some infighting in the last years, resulting in two prominent members leaving the party, Hugo Coveliers

Hugo Coveliers

(VLOTT) and Jean-Marie Dedecker

Jean-Marie Dedecker

Jean-Marie Louis Dedecker is a Belgian Flemish politician.In 1999 and 2003, Dedecker was directly elected to the Belgian Senate. In 2004 Dedecker ran for a seat in the Flemish Parliament, after taking his seat in the Flemish Parliament, Dedecker was elected by his colleagues as a community senator...

(Lijst Dedecker). After the 2006 municipal elections

Belgian municipal elections, 2006

The Belgian provincial and municipal elections, 2006 took place on Sunday 8 October 2006. The electors have elected the municipal counsellors of 589 cities and towns as well as the ten provincial councils...

, the party had tried to revamp itself with the newly named Open VLD cartel, under direction of noted political strategist Noël Slangen.

Groen!

Groen! is an ecological party, and the successor of Agalev. It hoped to make a return to the federal legislature after being wiped out in the 2003 general election. They managed to return to the Belgian parliament with four House seats and one senate seat, but their result of 6.3% was below expectations.

LDD

List Dedecker (Lijst Dedecker) is a liberal offshoot of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats

Flemish Liberals and Democrats

' , commonly known as Open VLD and also simply as the VLD, is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium, created in 1992 from the former Party for Freedom and Progress and a few other politicians from other parties. The party led the government for three cabinets under Guy Verhofstadt from 1999...

, founded by Belgian Senator Jean-Marie Dedecker

Jean-Marie Dedecker

and Boudewijn Bouckaert

Boudewijn Bouckaert

Boudewijn Bouckaert is a Belgian law professor, a member of the Flemish Movement, and a libertarian conservative thinker and politician. He chairs the academic board of the LIB-ERA! think tank and serves as Member of the Flemish Parliament for the liberal party List Dedecker...

, chairman of the Nova Civitas

Nova Civitas

Nova Civitas was a Flemish think tank based on the principles of classic liberalism in combination with Anglo-Saxon conservatism. Nova Civitas claimed at its founding to be completely independent, although it was recognized and supported by the Flemish Liberal Party...

think tank. The party surprised some who doubted it would clear the 5% electoral threshold by receiving 6.3% of the Flemish vote.

PVDA+

The Workers Party of Belgium

Workers Party of Belgium

The Workers' Party of Belgium is a Marxist political party in Belgium. It is one of the few parties that operates as a single Belgian party...

(Partij van de Arbeid van België) is a radical left wing party, of Maoist

Maoism

Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought , is claimed by Maoists as an anti-Revisionist form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong . Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding...

origin. Its lists also contain independent candidates. The PVDA almost doubled their votes, from 0.5% to 0.9%.

CAP

The Committee for Another Policy

Committee for Another Policy

The Committee for Another Policy , abbreviated to CAP, is a Belgian left-wing political movement that was established in 2005, and became a political party since 2006.-Formation:...

(Comité voor een Andere Politiek) is a bilingual left wing political movement, consisting of trade union militants, and political militants of communist, Trotskyist

Trotskyism

Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...

and socialist origin. It was formed in 2006 as a reaction to the more centrist course of the SP.a. Former SP.a-representative Jef Sleeckx is one of the co-founders. These elections were the first the movement participated in. They got 0.4% of the votes in Flanders.

Francophone parties (French speaking)

These Francophone

Francophone

The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....

parties fielded candidates in the Walloon Region

Walloon Region

The Walloon Region, commonly called Wallonia, is one of the three federal Regions of Belgium, and its capital is Namur. It comprises, as defined by Article 5 of the Constitution of Belgium, the provinces of Walloon Brabant, Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg and Namur...

and in the electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde is a Belgian electoral and judicial arrondissement in the center of the country, encompassing:* the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides...

PS

The Parti Socialiste (PS) is a social-democratic party that took part in the Verhofstadt I Government

Verhofstadt I Government

The Verhofstadt I Government was the federal government of Belgium from 12 July 1999 to 12 July 2003.It was the first government headed by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt...

and the Verhofstadt II Government. It is unlikely that the PS will deliver Belgium's next prime minister, the last Francophone prime minister was Paul Vanden Boeynants

Paul Vanden Boeynants

Paul Emile François Henri Vanden Boeynants was a Belgian politician. He served as the 41st Prime Minister of Belgium for two brief periods ....

in 1978-79. Largest competitor of the PS is the Mouvement Réformateur (MR), which just recently broke with the PS in Charleroi

Charleroi

Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...

, after PS aldermen were charged with corruption.

MR

The Mouvement Réformateur is a liberal party. It is a fusion of the Liberal Reformist Party

Liberal Reformist Party

The Parti Réformateur Libéral was a Belgian liberal party active in Wallonia and Brussels. It grew out of the unitiarian PVV-PLP and has since become part of the Mouvement Réformateur.-PVV-PLP:* Omer Vanaudenhove 1961 - 1968...

(PRL), the French-linguistic party Democratic Front of Francophones

Democratic Front of Francophones

The Francophone Democratic Federalists , is a Francophone political party based in Brussels, Belgium founded on 11 May 1964. Until 1982, the FDF dominated Brussels' municipal politics. It is led by Deputy Olivier Maingain....

(FDF) and a breakaway fraction of the Christian democratic Citizens' Movement for Change

Citizens' Movement for Change

Citizens' Movement for Change is a Christian Democratic political party in the French Community of Belgium founded by Gérard Deprez. It is a component of the Mouvement Réformateur....

(MCC). It had taken part in the federal government of Guy Verhofstadt, which included MR leader Didier Reynders

Didier Reynders

Didier J.L. Reynders is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur . He is Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Institutional Reforms in the Van Rompuy I Government, which took office on 30 December 2008.He was born in Liège as the youngest in a family of...

as finance minister.

The MR clearly won the elections in the French-speaking Walloon region, and the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region, ousting the previously dominant Parti Socialiste. The MR campaigned on three major fronts: the need for an alternative to the PS, entangled in various scandals of corruption and accused of poor governance leading to unemployment and anachronistic political systems; the need for a new fiscal reform; lowering taxes and government grip on the economy; and finally friendliness and cooperation with its Flemish counterpart, Open VLD.

cdH

The Centre Démocrate Humaniste is a Christian democratic party. They made a small advance (0.4%) in these elections and finished with 15.8% of the votes.

Ecolo

Ecolo is a French-speaking Belgian green political party in Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking Community of Belgium...

is a Green party. It made the largest gains of the 2007 election among Francophone parties and went from 7.5% to 12.8%.

FN

The Front National is a Franco-nationalist political movement known for its tough stances on immigration. They gained 5.6% of the vote, the same as in 2003.

CAP

The Committee for Another Policy

Committee for Another Policy

The Committee for Another Policy , abbreviated to CAP, is a Belgian left-wing political movement that was established in 2005, and became a political party since 2006.-Formation:...

(Comité pour une Autre Politique) is a bilingual left wing political movement, consisting of trade union militants, and political militants of communist, Trotskyist

Trotskyism

and socialist origin. It was formed in 2006 as a reaction to the more centrist course of the PS and the SP.a. Former FGTB-chairman Georges Debunne is one of the co-founders. These elections were the first the movement participated in. The party got 0.2% of the votes in Hainaut and Liège, the two provinces where its candidates stood.

Good governance

CD&V used the theme of good governance

Good governance

Good governance is an indeterminate term used in development literature to describe how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources in order to guarantee the realization of human rights. Governance describes "the process of decision-making and the process by which...

as a breaking point against SP.a and VLD. The party claimed that unlike in the Flemish Government

Flemish government

The Flemish Government is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. It consists of up to a maximum of eleven ministers, chosen by the Flemish Parliament...

, where CD&V leader Leterme heads a tripartite government, with CD&V, VLD and SP.a, the federal government lacked good governance. SP.a and VLD tried to counter this charge with similar examples in the Flemish Government of practices which CD&V accused them of.

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde and constitutionality

With the federal elections looming, the problem of the electoral district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde is a Belgian electoral and judicial arrondissement in the center of the country, encompassing:* the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides...

(B-H-V) re-emerged. Because the federal government failed to comply with a ruling of the Court of Arbitration

Court of Arbitration of Belgium

The Constitutional Court of Belgium plays a central role within the federal Belgian state. This is a judicial court founded in 1980. Its jurisdiction was augmented in 1988 and 2003.-History:...

which declared the provincial electoral districts compared to the two remaining arrondisemental ones in the former province of Brabant unconstitutional. According to the ruling of the Court of Arbitration the current situation would make federal elections impossible after 24 June 2007, so the new government will have to solve the situation. Several mayors in the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde area have threatened and actually have refused to compile the lists of electors. The governor took over their task.

Professor and constitutional expert Paul Van Orshoven from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...

declared that the elections would be unconstitutional. According to Van Orshoven there were two problems:

As the previous election was held on Sunday 18 May 2003, the final date to hold elections (four years from the previous) would be Sunday, 13 May 2007.
The Court of Arbitration gave the government the time to fix the B-H-V problem until the next elections. That hasn't happened, which means that the election results could be declared void.

Corruption in the Walloon Region

During the campaign new irregularities and corruption in PS-lead Charleroi emerged. The MR started using this as an example of why things in Wallonia under PS management were bad. The campaign became hostile and personal attacks between various MR, CdH and PS leaders dominated the campaign.

Armenian Genocide

In the run-up to the election, Johan Vande Lanotte

Johan Vande Lanotte

Johan Cyrille Corneel Vande Lanotte is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the SP.A, and became its party president on 15 October 2005...

, leader of the Socialist Party – Different, refused to acknowledge the Turkish genocide on its Armenian minority

Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...

in the midst of a controversy about the strong allegiance to Turkey expressed in Turkish at a meeting by a Turkish-Belgian CD&V Senate candidate, Ergün Top, but also in the aftermath of a similar problem aroused during the campaign for the Dutch general election a few months earlier. The position of Yves Leterme (CD&V) on this issue was unclear at first, but he later confided to the Flemish parliament that he does acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

In 1998, the Belgian Senate had already passed a resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, including the support of SP (later sp.a) and CVP (later CD&V) senators.

Polls

The polls conducted by the Stemmenkampioen site of Het Laatste Nieuws
Het Laatste Nieuws
Het Laatste Nieuws is a Dutch language newspaper based in Brussels, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of De Persgroep, and has a circulation of 292,410 copies, making it the most popular newspaper in Flanders and Belgium.- Comics :During World War II, The...

and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is a Flemish university located in Brussels, Belgium. It has two campuses referred to as Etterbeek and Jette.The university's name is sometimes abbreviated by "VUB" or translated to "Free University of Brussels"...

http://stemmenkampioen.hln.be, yield the following overall result for Flanders

Flanders

, compared to the 2003 Senate elections. De Standaard
De Standaard
De Standaard is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Corelio . Circulation was about 102.280 in 2007. It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and Flemish Party, and in opposition to the Socialist Flemish daily De Morgen...

and the VRT

Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep

The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie , or VRT, is a publicly-funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders ....

conducted a similar poll in November 2006, in March 2007 (the first poll in which Lijst Dedecker, a Flemish party founded in January 2007, was measured) and in May 2007.

The percentages are relative to that region.

Party/Alliance	General elections 05/2003 (%)	Het Laatste Nieuws Het Laatste Nieuws Het Laatste Nieuws is a Dutch language newspaper based in Brussels, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of De Persgroep, and has a circulation of 292,410 copies, making it the most popular newspaper in Flanders and Belgium.- Comics :During World War II, The... 01/2007 (%) http://stemmenkampioen.hln.be	De Standaard De Standaard De Standaard is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Corelio . Circulation was about 102.280 in 2007. It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and Flemish Party, and in opposition to the Socialist Flemish daily De Morgen... /VRT Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie , or VRT, is a publicly-funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders .... 11/2006 (%)	De Standaard/VRT 03/2007 (%)	Le Soir Le Soir Le Soir is a Berliner Format Belgian newspaper. Le Soir was founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel. It is the most popular Francophone newspaper in Belgium, and considered a newspaper of record.-Editorial stance:... /RTBF RTBF Radio Télévision Belge Francophone is the public broadcasting organization of the French Community of Belgium, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium... 04/2007 (%) http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF29042007_087	De Standaard De Standaard De Standaard is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Corelio . Circulation was about 102.280 in 2007. It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and Flemish Party, and in opposition to the Socialist Flemish daily De Morgen... /VRT Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie , or VRT, is a publicly-funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders .... 21-05-2007 (%)	Le Soir Le Soir Le Soir is a Berliner Format Belgian newspaper. Le Soir was founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel. It is the most popular Francophone newspaper in Belgium, and considered a newspaper of record.-Editorial stance:... /RTBF RTBF Radio Télévision Belge Francophone is the public broadcasting organization of the French Community of Belgium, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium... 06/2007 (%) http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF03062007_034	De Standaard/VRT 06/2007 (%) http://www.vrtnieuws.net/cm/vrtnieuws.net/verkiezingen07/nieuws/070608_peilingAlg
Flanders Flanders Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
CD&V - N-VA New-Flemish Alliance ' is a Flemish right-wing political party, founded in the autumn of 2001. It is a conservative and liberal movement that promotes civic nationalism...	25	30	32,7	30,4	29,6	29,9	29,7	29,9
Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang is a Belgian far-right political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels that advocates the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration, whereby immigrants would be obliged to adopt Flemish culture and language...	17	20	21,9	20,8	21,9	20,7	21,6	21,4
SP.a - Spirit Spirit (Belgium) ' was a Belgian Flemish political party formed after dissolution of the moderate nationalist People's Union party. Prior to 19 April 2008 it was known as Spirit, and intermediately as Flemish Progressives...	25	17	19,7	20,7	20,3	20,4	19,7	19,4
VLD - Vivant Vivant Vivant is a small Belgian social liberal party founded by millionaire Roland Duchâtelet. In the regional elections in June 2004, the party formed a strategic alliance with the Flemish Liberals and Democrats . Both parties are founded on the principle of individualism and can be called liberal...	24	15	17,3	16,9	16,6	17,3	17,3	17,7
Groen!	3	5	7,6	7,6	6,7	8,4	7,4	7,7
Lijst Dedecker	N/A	N/A	N/A	3,2	2,8	2,1	N/A	3,8
Wallonia
PS		N/A	N/A	N/A	33,4	N/A	31,4	N/A
MR		N/A	N/A	N/A	24,5	N/A	26,5	N/A
CDH		N/A	N/A	N/A	19	N/A	19,2	N/A
Ecolo Ecolo Ecolo is a French-speaking Belgian green political party in Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking Community of Belgium...		N/A	N/A	N/A	9,6	N/A	9,7	N/A
FN		N/A	N/A	N/A	8,2	N/A	8,1	N/A
Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
MR		N/A	N/A	N/A	27,9	N/A	27,4	N/A
PS		N/A	N/A	N/A	25,9	N/A	25	N/A
CDH		N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	15,3	N/A
ECOLO		N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	10,5	N/A

Results

Chamber of Representatives

The newly-constituted Chamber met for the first time on Thursday 28 June 2007, when the Representatives took the oath of office.

Senate

21 Community Senators and 10 Coopted Senators were also be appointed. The definite distribution is not known. On Thursday 28 June 2007, the directly-elected Senators took the oath of office. One week later, on 5 July 2007, the Community Senators took the oath, and two weeks later, on 12 July 2007, the Coopted Senators took the oath. On that day, the Senate was fully constituted.

Government formation

Due to differences in view with regards to constitutional reform between the Flemish and Francophone parties, the negotiations to form a new government proceeded with much difficulty.

On 13 June 2007, King Albert II

Albert II of Belgium

Albert II is the current reigning King of the Belgians, a constitutional monarch. He is a member of the royal house "of Belgium"; formerly this house was named Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...

appointed MR leader Didier Reynders

Didier Reynders

informateur, (someone who assesses the possibilities for government coalitions). Prior to his appointment, in his position as party leader, Reynders had indicated his preference for a coalition of Christian Democratic parties CD&V (Flanders) and cdH (Wallonia) and liberal parties MR (Wallonia) and Open VLD (Flanders). Reynders presented his final report to the King on 4 July 2007. Following the report, King Albert II

Albert II of Belgium

Albert II is the current reigning King of the Belgians, a constitutional monarch. He is a member of the royal house "of Belgium"; formerly this house was named Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...

appointed former Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene

Jean-Luc Dehaene

-Early life and political career:He was born in Montpellier, France, when his parents were fleeing German troops. He got into politics through the Algemeen Christelijk Werknemersverbond , a trade union which was closely linked to the Christelijke Volkspartij .In 1981, he became Minister of Social...

as mediator to prepare the ground for the formateur and to look into the possibility of a state reform.

The King then appointed Yves Leterme

Yves Leterme

of the CD&V

Christian Democratic and Flemish

The Christian Democratic and Flemish is a political party of Belgium, formerly called Christian People's Party...

as formateur
Formateur
A formateur is a politician who is appointed by the head of state to lead the formation of a coalition government, after either a general election or the collapse of a previous government. The role of the formateur is especially important in the politics of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg,...

(giving him the task of forming a coalition). Negotiations were temporarily halted on 17 August to give the King the possibility to mediate. Upon the further failure of the negotiations, on 23 August Leterme resigned as formateur. As no acceptable mediator could be found, on 27 August, the King took the unusual step to consult 13 Ministers of State to find way out of the political crisis. At the end of August, the King appointed Herman Van Rompuy

Herman Van Rompuy

Herman Achille Van Rompuy is the first long-term and full-time President of the European Council...

(also CD&V and President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives since July) as explorateur (scout). Following Rompuy's report, Leterme was again appointed formateur on 15 September. After two months of further negotiations, Leterme was still unable to form a coalition and resigned as formateur for a second time on 1 December.

External links

Elections 07 VRT election site
Tractothèque - Electoral posters and leaflets

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