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 1 June 1958. The result was a victory for the Christian Social Party, which won 104 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 53 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 93.6% in the Chamber election and 93.7% in the Senate election.Nohlen & Stöver, p291 Elections for the nine

provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Canad ...

councils were also held. The election took place in a political crisis 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 ...

. The outgoing

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, ...

"purple" government of the Socialist and Liberal Party, led by

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 ...

, reversed policies of the previous Catholic-led government regarding private schools. The Van Acker government lost the election, leading again to a Catholic government led by

Gaston Eyskens Gaston François Marie, Viscount Eyskens (1 April 1905 – 3 January 1988) was a Christian democracy, Christian democratic politician and prime minister of Belgium. He was also an economist and member of the Belgian Christian Social Party (Belg ...

. That government, which was a few seats short of a majority in the Chamber, would be the last single-party government in Belgian history. Later in 1958, the School War was ended by a cross-party agreement and the Liberal Party joined the government.

Results

Chamber of Deputies

Senate

References

{{Belgian elections

General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

Belgian general election