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 29 August 1831.Sternberger, D, Vogel, B & Nohlen, D (1969) ''Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa - Erster Halbband'', p105 They were the first elections to the new bicameral parliament created by the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

adopted in February 1831. 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 ...

elections Catholics won 31 seats and Liberals four. Voter turnout was 62.2%, although only 46,000 people (1.1% of the country's population) were eligible to vote. On 8 September 1831, King

Leopold I of Belgium Leopold I (16 December 1790 – 10 December 1865) was the first king of the Belgians, reigning from 21 July 1831 until his death in 1865. The youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Rus ...

opened the 1831–1832 parliamentary session, the first ever of the Belgian Parliament.

Electoral system

The electoral system was defined in the 1831 constitution and the electoral law of 3 March 1831. The 102 members of the Chamber of Representatives and 51 members of the

were elected by absolute majority in 44 electoral

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. Each district had between one and seven representatives and one to three senators; some were elected by joint or alternating districts. Eligibility vote was restricted to men aged 25 or older who held Belgian nationality either through birth or through grand naturalisation, and who paid a ''cens'' fixed by the electoral law. The ''cens'' differentiated depending on the place of residence.

Constituencies

The 44 constituencies elected 102 representatives and appointed 51 senators as follows.''Recueil des décrets du congrès national de la Belgique'', vol. 2 (Brussels, H. Remy, 1831), pp. 218-228
On Google Books
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Results

Senate

References

{{Belgian elections 1830s elections in Belgium

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...