General elections were held in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

on 11 April 1954. The dominant Christian Social Party won 95 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 49 of the 106 seats in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Voter turnout was 93.2%.Nohlen & Stöver, p291 Elections for the nine provincial councils were also held. The outgoing Catholic government led by Jean Van Houtte lost their majority in parliament. The two other main parties, the Socialist and Liberal Party, subsequently formed a rare "purple" government with

Achille Van Acker Achille Van Acker (8 April 1898 – 10 July 1975) was a Belgian politician who served three terms as the prime minister of Belgium between 1945 and 1958. A moderate from Flanders, Van Acker was a member of the Belgian Socialist Party (PSB–BSP ...

as Prime Minister. Both parties had an

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...

agenda and aimed to reverse policies of the Catholic government regarding private schools. This would become known as the

Second School War The Second School War (, ) was a political crisis in Belgium over the issue of religion in education between 1954 and 1958. The "war" was ended by a cross-party agreement, known as the School Pact, which clarified the role of religion in the stat ...

Results

Chamber of Deputies

Senate

References