1981 Belgian general election

1981 Belgian general election
8 November 1981
212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Mark Eyskens André Cools Willy De Clercq
Party CVP PS Open Vld
Leader since Candidate for PM 1978 1977
Last election 57 seats, 26.14% 31 seats, 12.46% 22 seats, 10.36%
Seats won 43 35 28
Seat change 14 4 6
Popular vote 1,165,239 733,137 776,871
Percentage 19.34% 12.17% 12.89%
Swing 6.80% 0.29% 2.53%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
PRL
Leader Karel Van Miert Jean Gol Vic Anciaux
Party sp.a PRL VU
Leader since 1978 1979 1979
Last election 26 seats, 12.37% 15 seats, 4.64% 14 seats, 7.02%
Seats won 26 24 20
Seat change 9 6
Popular vote 744,593 480,380 588,436
Percentage 12.36% 7.97% 9.77%
Swing 0.01% 3.33% 2.75%
Government before election

M. Eyskens
CVP-PSC-PS-SP

 Government after election

Martens V
CVP-PSC-PVV-PRL

General elections were held in Belgium on 8 November 1981. Voter turnout was 94.5% in the Chamber election and 94.6% in the Senate election. Elections were also held for the nine provincial councils and for the Council of the German Cultural Community. They were the first elections after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. This contributed to the success of the socialist parties and the green parties (Agalev and Ecolo).

The traditionally largest Christian People's Party saw significant losses, with only 43 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives. The result was considered an election upset.

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