1914 Belgian general election

1914 Belgian general election

24 May 1914
88 of the 186 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
First party Second party Third party   Leader Charles de Broqueville Laurent Vandersmissen Party Catholic Labour Liberal Seats won 41 26 20 Popular vote 570,806 404,701 326,922 Percentage 42.77% 30.32% 24.50%
Government before election De Broqueville I Catholic Government after election De Broqueville I Catholic

Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 24 May 1914.^[1] The result was a victory for the Catholic Party, which won 41 of the 88 seats up for election in the Chamber of Representatives.^[2]

The Catholics had formed the government continuously since 1884; the incumbent de Broqueville government was in office since 1911.

Under the alternating system, elections were only held in four out of the nine provinces: Hainaut, Limburg, Liège and East Flanders. This was the last time this system was applied, as the next elections in 1919 saw the introduction of full four-year terms.

The elections occurred shortly before the outbreak of World War I. The newly elected legislature met for just one day in a special session: on 4 August 1914, when King Albert I addressed the United Chambers of Parliament upon the German invasion of Belgium. The parliament met again after the war in November 1918.

Seats in the provinces of Antwerp, Brabant, Luxembourg, Namur and West Flanders were not up for election.

Apart from the re-elected members, the following six members were newly elected:

• Paul Van Hoegaerden-Braconier (liberal), elected in Liège to replace Charles Van Marcke de Lummen (liberal), who did not seek re-election.
• Alfred Journez (liberal), elected in Liège to replace Ferdinand Fléchet (liberal), who was not a candidate for health reasons.
• Paul-Emile Janson (liberal), elected in Tournai to replace Albert Asou (liberal), who did not seek re-election to the Chamber.
• Paul Neven (liberal), elected in Tongeren-Maaseik to replace Auguste Van Ormelingen (catholic).
• Clément Peten (liberal), elected in Hasselt to replace Albert de Menten de Horne (catholic).
• Joseph Wauters (socialist), elected in Huy-Waremme to replace Jules Giroul (liberal).