Belgium

House of RepresentativesSenate

House of Representatives

Political system Political systems: Presidential, Parliamentary, Presidential-Parliamentary, Monarchy, Communist, Transitional.
Parliamentary system
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Structure of parliament Structure of parliament: Unicameral, bicameral
Bicameral
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IPU membership Current membership status
Yes
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Data on women

empty

Basic information > About parliament

Speaker

Speaker
Eliane Tillieux (Female)
Year of birth
1966
Additional information
Elected on 13 Oct. 2020.
See historical data for this field.

Secretary general

Secretary General
Marc Van der Hulst (Male)
Notes Additional information about the Secretary General, in particular regarding their term.
1 Oct. 2016 -

Members

Current number of members, by sex
Men The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
87
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Women The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
63
See historical data for this field.
Percentage of women Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
42% See historical data for this field.

Age

Average age of all members Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
46.10
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Youngest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
26
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Youngest member
Dries Van Langenhove (Male)
Oldest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
67
Oldest member
Josy Arens (Male)
Total number of MPs, 45 years of age or younger
81 See historical data for this field.
Total number of MPs, 46 years of age or older
69 See historical data for this field.
Total per sex
Total of male
87 See historical data for this field.
Total of female
63 See historical data for this field.
Total per age interval
18-20
0
21-30
5 See historical data for this field.
31-40
37 See historical data for this field.
41-45
39 See historical data for this field.
46-50
33 See historical data for this field.
51-60
22 See historical data for this field.
61-70
14 See historical data for this field.
71-80
0 See historical data for this field.
81-90
0
91 and over
0
Number of members, by age
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Totals per age interval 0 5 37 39 33 22 14 0 0 0
Total <= 45: 81 Total >= 46: 69
Male 0 2 16 21 22 13 13 0 0 0 87
Female 0 3 21 18 11 9 1 0 0 0 63
Percentage of members, by age
Age as last election or renewalOverallMaleFemale
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger3.33%1.33%2%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger28%12%16%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger54%26%28%

Reserved seats and quotas

Electoral quota for women Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Yes
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Notes
Legislated candidate quotas. On electoral lists, the number of candidates of either gender cannot be greater than the other. This also applies to the list of alternates. The two top candidates on candidate lists and on the lists of alternates cannot be of the same gender.
Elections > Election results

Candidates

Total number of candidates Total number of people who registered as candidates for election. Does not include people who stood as candidates to become "substitute members".
1,599
Number of female candidates Number of female candidates
780
Percentage of women candidates The percentage is calculated by dividing the number of women candidates by the total number of candidates.
48.78%
Number of candidates, by sex
Number of female candidates Number of female candidates
780
Percentage of women candidates The percentage is calculated by dividing the number of women candidates by the total number of candidates.
48.78%

Results

Members elected, by sex
Number of men elected
91
Number of women elected
59
Percentage of women elected The percentage is calculated by dividing the number of women elected in the election and the number of seats at stake at the election.
39.33%
Number of women after election or renewal, by mode of designation
Women Directly Elected
59

New legislature

Total number of men after the election The total number of male parliamentarians in this parliament/chamber following the election or renewal, regardless of their modes of designation.
91
Total number of women after the election The total number of female parliamentarians in this parliament/chamber following the election or renewal, regardless of their modes of designation.
59
First Speaker of the new legislature
First Speaker of the new legislature First name of the Speaker of the new legislature following the election or renewal.
Patrick Dewael (Male)
Political party
Open vld
Date of election
30.06.2014
Elections > Historical data on women

Women's suffrage

Women’s right to vote
Women’s right to vote Year in which women obtained the right to vote
1919
National or local Suffrage: National or Local
National
Restricted or unrestricted suffrage Suffrage: Restricted or Universal
Restricted
Detail of restrictions Suffrage: Restrictions detail
Suffrage only given to widows or mothers of servicemen killed during World War One, citizens shot or killed by the enemy and women political prisoners
Notes Suffrage: Additional Notes on right of suffrage
Contained in the law of 9 May 1919. Universal suffrage was introduced for men in 1919.
Women’s right to vote Year in which women obtained the right to vote
1948
National or local Suffrage: National or Local
National
Restricted or unrestricted suffrage Suffrage: Restricted or Universal
Universal
Notes Suffrage: Additional Notes on right of suffrage
The Law of 27 March 1948 gave all women the right to vote under the same conditions as for men. Women voted for the first time in 1949.
Women’s right to stand for election
Women's right to stand for election Year in which women obtained the right to stand for election
1921
National or local Stand for Election: National or Local
National
First woman in parliament
First woman in parliament Year in which first woman entered parliament
1921
First woman speaker
Year of first woman speaker Date at which, for the first time in the country's parliamentary history, a woman became Presiding Officer of Parliament or of one of its Houses.
2004