Chapter 08 - Party Politics in Belgium

CHAPTER VIII

PARTY POLITICS IN BELGIUM

BEFORE dealing with the question of Party Politics in Belgium and the attitude of the several parties in the State towards each other, it will be well to give some statistics and other essential particulars as to the composition of the legislature, the system of election, the electorate, and the various changes that have from time to time been introduced into the political government of the country.

By the original Constitution of the country drafted in 1830-31, the legislative powers were vested in the King, the Chamber of Representatives, and the Senate. By the law of March 3, 1831, there were to be 102 Representatives and fifty-one Senators, and the rule that there were to be twice as many of the former as of the latter was observed through all the changes until that of 1893, when the Senate was increased in proportional numerical strength by the addition of twenty-seven permanent provincial members. In June, 1839, the principle of one representative per 40,000 of the population was introduced with the consequence that the Chamber was reduced to ninety-five members and the Senate to forty-seven. A law having to be passed on each occasion of an increase in the Chambers, it may be interesting to record what they have been. In 1847, the number was raised to 108 representatives and 54 senators; in 1859 to 116 and 58 respectively ; in 1866 to 124 and 62 ; in 1878 to 132 and 66; in 1882 to 138 and 69; in 1892 to 152 and 76; in 1893 to 152 and 102; and in 1902 to 166 and 110. Once the principle is understood, it is easy to follow the fluctuations by comparison with the growth of population.

With regard to the system of election and the body of the electorate, a general election for the Chamber of Representatives must at the longest interval take place every four years and for the Senate every eight years, the Sovereign having the power with or without the assent of the Premier to dissolve the Chambers and compel an appeal to the country at any time. At the commencement of a new reign a dissolution takes place automatically. There is another point, half the Chamber has to be re-elected at the expiration of two years from any general election, and half the Senate at that of four years.

The number of electors was extremely limited from 1831 to 1892. In 1832 there were 45,000 voters, in 1848, 80,000, and in 1892 the electorate only numbered 136,775 in a population of six and a half millions. By the new law passed in 1893 the number of electors was increased to 1,354,891, who, by the plural vote passed at the same time held 2,085,605 votes.

These numbers had increased to 1,472, 953 voters and 2,269,414 votes in 1900.

The Belgian legislature was created in a time of national peril, and in face, as it were, of the enemy. At such a moment it might be said with truth that "none were for a party, but all were for the State." Political parties did not exist. The executive members were chosen more or less from both sides, and formed what was called the party of Union. This happy condition of things could not be expected to last longer than the circumstances which rendered it possible. The passing of the national peril revived the ceaseless turmoil of faction fighting. Some one has said that popular assemblies only exist for the purpose of useless and unedifying broiling in which words take the place of lethal weapons, and then has added as an after-tribute to their utility, "but they let off dangerous steam." For all the useful work that is done a council of six wise men would do far better. For this reason the first fifteen years of Belgian independence were full of wise and beneficent public measures as well as free from party discord

The note of change was struck in 1846, when the first Liberal Congress was held in Brussels. The Liberal party was then provided with a definite program and an efficient organization. Having thus got the start of the Catholics or Conservatives, it was not surprising that the Liberals should be returned with a great majority at the general election of 1847, and they remained in office with two intervals, one brief and the other longer, until 1884. For the first half of that long period the Liberal leader was M. Charles Rogier, a true patriot who had done as much as any individual to make the Belgian Revolution successful. His successor in the second half of the period was M" Frere-Orban, a brilliant orator and the chief of the "doctrinaires." The revolution of 1848 found Belgium controlled by Liberal influences, and it was one of the few Continental States that escaped the cataclysm of that trying and critical epoch.

The partial election of 1852 was less favorable to the Liberals than they had expected, and as they were divided amongst themselves, it provided an opportunity of once more forming a mixed administration without any definite party color or aggressive program. It held the balance between the extremists on the difficult question of religious instruction in secondary schools, and when the general election of 1854 resulted in the return for the first time of a Catholic majority, it seemed as if the period of calm might not be interrupted.

The new premier was M. Pierre de Decker - a Catholic of moderate views and the first Fleming to appear among Belgian politicians - -and his brief tenure of power is chiefly memorable because it witnessed an exceedingly bitter encounter between Catholics and Liberals. This was the more remarkable because there can be no question of his moderation, and the violence of the attack on his measures was due, not to their purport, but to the opinion among the Liberal leaders that in this way alone could they return to office. The Catholic party had a majority in the Chamber, therefore M. Frere-Orban appealed to the masses. The threat of a revolution was made, and for the first time in the history of constitutional Belgium street demonstrations were the order of the day. It was so well known that these were engineered by those desirous of returning to office that the agitation was called "the kid-gloved revolution." However, the Premier lost his nerve and resigned. The Liberals returned to office in 1857, and remained there without a break till 1870.

The elections of 1860 and 1864 were remarkable for the first appearance of the advanced Liberals, who wished to give legislative effect to the extreme arguments used when Frere-Orban was in opposition and only thinking how best to get back to office. But Frere-Orban was quite a different person as Minister, and turned a deaf ear to all proposals to eliminate religious instruction from the school curriculum. The extreme left, led by M. Verhaegen in these years, was the precursor of the Socialist Party which has played so prominent a role in more recent days. By the time that the general election of 1870 was reached it had become clear that old party lines were breaking down, and that soon the Chamber would be divided among three parties. What was not expected was that the swing of the pendulum towards Radicalism would bring the Catholic party into office. The electors of the country returned Conservative representatives with a clear majority over the two sections of the Liberal party.

This defeat at a moment when they fully counted on complete victory filled the Liberals with wrath, and they determined to make the position of the Catholic Ministry as uncomfortable as possible. The session of 1870-71 was particularly stormy, both inside and outside the Chamber. While prominent politicians spoke loudly of violations of the Constitution, bringing in the King's name, the mob demonstrated in the streets to cries for a republic, and serious events occurred in Brussels and Antwerp. In a certain degree these demonstrations were not without result. The Premier, an advanced Catholic, resigned in favor of one less extreme, and M. Jules Malou became Minister of Finance with a definite program for the improvement of labor conditions, the increase of the electorate, and the introduction of the ballot. As the Catholic party possessed a majority of twenty-two, the bitterness of party strife became somewhat allayed during the next two sessions, and in November, 1873, the King felt himself able to state that "calm and prosperous, Belgium in 1873 may be proud of the past and look at the future with serene confidence." At the general election of 1874 the Catholics found their majority reduced to fourteen. The partial elections cf 1876 further reduced it to twelve.

The year 1877 was remarkable for three important political events. Voting by ballot was introduced, the Chamber was increased by ten representatives and the Senate by five, and the first avowedly Socialist meeting was held at Ghent. The first election under the new system was held in June, 1878, when the Liberals secured a majority of twelve, and M. FrereOrban returned to power. The Catholic party had done quite well enough during its eight years' tenure of office to remove the reproach that had often been made against it, that it did not know how to govern. During the. critical period of the Franco-German War it had upheld the honor and neutrality of Belgium, and in the region of domestic affairs it had given the elector security in voting and ameliorated the conditions of the labor classes.

With the return of the Liberal party to power began one of the stormiest periods in Belgian history. The new Ministry resorted to a policy of what was called action, and which was really a course of aggression against everything their opponents held dear. They began by removing several Catholic governors of the provinces, diminishing the powers of the "Commissions Permanentes" (the highest division in the system of local self-government in Belgium), and flooding the civil and more especially the educational service with their own nominees. Having thus prepared the way, they brought in their Education Bill, which was avowedly intended to deal a fatal blow to the Church by eliminating all religious instruction from primary schools. The measure was passed into law, and for five years "State instruction was placed under the exclusive control of the civil authorities." In consequence of this law one-third of the children left the primary State schools to join those which the Church established wherever they had the means. A rupture with the Vatican followed, and the bitterness of the strife between the Catholics and Liberals was shown by the refusal of the Church to take any part in the national festivities held in 1880 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Belgian independence.

Notwithstanding the efforts made by the Catholic party under the able and energetic direction of M. Malou to improve their organization and rouse the country, the partial elections of 1880 increased the Liberal majority by four votes. The Liberals, however, had troubles of their own. Far as M. FrereOrban had gone, he had not gone anything like far enough to satisfy the extreme wing of his followers. During the session of 1881 M. Janson and his band of Radicals demanded Universal Suffrage and threatened to upset the government unless it brought in a bill to that effect. M. Frere-Orban refused to give way on this point, and as a "doctrinaire" favored a restricted instead of an enlarged franchise. The utmost concession he would make was the granting of a vote for an educational qualification to be established by public examination. The Radical section, finding its position less strong than it had imagined, withdrew its demand, but from that moment dated the bitterness of the relations between the two sections of the Liberal party. It was said with some truth that much as they hated the Catholics, they hated each other more.

Under these conditions the time arrived for holding the general election of 1884. The Liberals never doubted that their triumph was assured and that they had the country behind them in their education policy. They were destined to experience a rude disillusion. They went to the country with a majority that had gradually swelled in six years from twelve to twenty. They returned in a minority of thirty-four. Eightysix Catholics were elected as against fifty-two Liberals of all sections. M. Malou again became Premier, and his first act showed his determination to undo the measures of the fallen administration. He suppressed the separate post of Minister of Public Instruction, adding his functions to those of the Minister of the Interior. In the Senate the "doctrinaire" party still possessed a majority, and before organic changes could be made it was necessary for the Catholics to have a sure majority there also. The Senate sits for eight years, as already explained, and in 1884 the period of its re-election had not arrived. It was necessary for it to be dissolved for re-election, and the result of this was that the Catholics obtained in the new Senate a majority of seventeen.

Having thus insured the passing of its legislative measures, M. Manlou's government proceeded to abrogate the education law passed by its predecessors, and to introduce a new one leaving primary education in the hands of the Communes. In this way religious instruction was restored in the schools which received State subsidies. The passing of this measure into lawwas accompanied by some sensational incidents. There were riots in Brussels and even talk of civil war. M. Malou retired from office as a calming measure, and was succeeded by M. Beernaert, who was less identified with the Church than his chief. Thus was the brief interregnum of purely secular instruction in Belgium terminated, and the system of education based on communal control has gone on undisturbed for twenty-five years and seems now to be firmly established.

The success of the Catholic party did not prove, as many expected it to be, ephemeral. The partial election of 1886 confirmed its triumph by raising its majority from thirty-four to fifty-six. In 1888 the moderate Liberals proposed to the advanced Radicals that they should combine for the purpose of the general election, but the offer was rejected with the result that the Catholic party achieved a more considerable triumph than it had on first coming into power. There was another consequence. The internal feuds in the Liberal party became more bitter.

The political situation in the country was not as serene as the overwhelming majority of the Conservatives made it in the Chamber. The masses betrayed great discontent with their position and clamored for the redress of grievances, many of which were only too real. In no industrial country of the first rank was labor then less remunerated or carried out under harsher conditions than in Belgium. Undoubtedly the working classes occupied an intolerable position, and the redress of their hardships provided the only means of averting a revolution. Every year from 1886 to 1890 witnessed serious strikes and collisions between the strikers and the civil authorities. On more than one occasion the military had to be called out and bloodshed ensued. In one encounter near Charleroi as many as seventy men were killed. It was also noticed that every year the Socialist party showed better organization, and that its attacks in both the Chamber and the street were becoming more menacing. Thus it was high time to think of remedies. A commission was appointed to inquire into the state of labor and to provide remedies for popular grievances. It will suffice to say here that it did good work by raising the scale of pay, diminishing the hours of labor, and restricting the employment of women and children. The second of the remedies concerns us more particularly in a sketch of party politics, for it relates to the franchise.

The Catholic party decided that they could no longer avoid an extension of the franchise. The Belgian Constitution was exceedingly liberal in its principles, but this did not alter the plain fact that Belgium, with a population of six millions in 1890, had only 134,437 voters. In the year just named the Chamber passed by a general vote a motion to the effect that Article 47 of the Constitution (the one fixing the qualification of electors) required revision. The next thing was to discover how it could be carried out. The Government wished to raise the total to 600,000 voters based on a small property qualification, but it was found impossible to find a minimum that would satisfy the exigencies of the case. Under these circumstances there was. no practical remedy but giving all citizens a vote on the basis of an age minimum and residential qualification. This measure, if left alone, would have gone very near to the universal suffrage demanded by the Socialists. The balance was redressed by the invention of the plural vote, which added one or two votes for each elector possessing special defined qualifications. Before describing the new franchise it may be appropriate to give the King's speech in opening the session which saw the passing of this great legislative reform:

"The Belgian Constitution is today the most ancient of the Continent. It has brought our dear country a long succession of years of peace and fruitful development. Like you, I have more than once proclaimed its wisdom.

"But the works of men have only their period ; institutions must be appropriate to their surroundings; and thanks to the progress accomplished, our institutions, which were noteworthy for their liberal features half a century ago, can today be made better and rejuvenated.

"This has led you in accordance with my government to the decision that there is room to examine several points of our political organization ; and in the formal and special consultation prescribed by our fundamental pact, the electoral body of today has just given you a mandate to carry out a large extension of the right of suffrage.

"Other problems of the same order are attached thereto, and to solve them will be the essential object of the coming session.

"In subordinating the revision of the Constitution to the vote of an exceptional majority our fathers wished that it should not be possible for it to be the work of a party. It is in that spirit, Gentlemen, that proposals will be made to you by my government. It is in the same spirit, I do not doubt, that you will examine them, and the patriotic sentiments which animate your assemblies each time that a great national interest is at stake are a sure guaranty that the revised Constitution will be another work marked by concord, wisdom, and progress.

"There are in the life of nations historical hours when the decisions to be taken may exercise a decisive influence on their destinies. Such is the present moment for Belgium.

"You will bring to the examination of the problems placed before you a profound love of your country, and the generous views more than ever demanded by the incessant progress of modern ideas."

It was not until the session of 1893 was well advanced that a definite scheme was elaborated and passed into law. The new qualifications are set forth in the following statement, and it only remains to add that they are those which are at present in force.

"One vote for every Belgian citizen on reaching the age of twenty-five, and who has resided for one year in the same commune.

"One extra vote for every elector on reaching the age of thirty-five who is married, or if a widower who has legitimate descendants provided that he pays one dollar of direct taxation, or shows that he is exempt from such payment.

"Two extra votes for every elector who is proprietor of real estate with a minimum cadastral revenue of $9.60, or who shows that he derives the sum of $20 yearly from an investment in the State Stocks or Savings Banks.

"(or) Two extra votes for every elector (1) holding diplomas of various descriptions enumerated in Art. 17; or (2) holding government posts or public dignities enumerated in Art. 19.

"Maximum number of votes for any elector is three."

In addition to the creation of the plural vote a further defense for society was formed in the increase of the Senate in numbers and by importing into it a more permanent element. The numbers of the Senate as fixed by the original law were to be half those of the Chamber, and the law of 1893 made no change in this respect. These members were elected for eight years, half retiring for re-election at the expiration of four years. But the new law, introduced a new element. The Provincial Councils were to delegate twenty-seven representatives to the Senate, and these nominees of the Nine Provinces sit independently of all elections.

It was computed that the new law created 1,200,000 electors who would possess 1,900,000 votes. Notwithstanding the ingenious innovation of the plural vote the Conservatives naturally regarded with no little trepidation the possible outcome of this surrender to the demands of the democracy. The election of 1892, under the old system, had given a return of ninetytRree Catholics to fifty-nine Liberals of all shades. Curiosity was naturally felt as to the results of the election of 1894 with the new franchise. It resulted in the return of 104 Catholics, twenty Liberals and Radicals, and twenty-eight Socialists. The old "doctrinaire" party was practically wiped out. The partial elections of 1896 further increased the Catholic majority, which then reached its highest point. The new Chamber contained 112 Catholics, only twelve Liberals, and twenty-eight Socialists.

The authors of the new franchise had conceived that it would greatly favor the Liberals, and as a further precaution for the protection of minorities M. Beernaert had proposed to supplement the plural vote with a measure of "proportional representation." His party would not support him, and therefore he resigned in 1894. The overwhelming Catholic majority in the Chamber, which was in excess of all proportion to the votes recorded for the several parties, was in itself an incitement to the attacks of their political adversaries. The Socialists, who had only twentyeight seats for nearly half a million votes, clamored loudly for universal suffrage, while the Liberals and the moderate Catholics demanded the introduction of "proportional representation," which would certainly equalize the chances of all parties. It was amid riotous scenes in both the Chambers and the streets that the new reform was passed into law in 1899.

By the system of proportional representation Belgium is divided into a fixed number of electoral districts, and each district has the number of its members apportioned in accordance with the total strength of each party in it. As a rule, there are only three parties, but the presence of a Catholic Democrat would raise the total to four. The number of seats to be filled is divided by the number of parties, and then distributed in the proportion of the total votes recorded for each. By this system the smallest minority is certain of one seat. The following instance will perhaps make the system clear. An electoral district with 40,000 recorded votes returns seven members. Four parties contest it with the result that the total votes are: Catholics, 25,000; Liberals, 8,000; Socialists, 5,000; and Catholic Democrats, 2,000. The seven seats would then be distributed as follows : one to the Catholic Democrat, one each to the Liberals and Socialists, and four to the Catholics.

Just as it had been anticipated that the new franchise would greatly favor the Liberals in 1894, so was it reckoned in 1899 that the introduction of proportional representation could not fail to be followed by a marked movement towards an equalization of parties. The estimate of the Liberals of the result of the 1900 election was a total of eighty Catholics as against seventy-two Liberals and Socialists, the two sections of the Left having sunk their differences for a time in the hope of shortening the term of Catholic power. Fourteen new seats had also been created, raising the total to 166. The result of the election showed ninetyfive Catholics, thirty-five Liberals, thirty-four Socialists, and two Catholic Democrats, the Catholic majority being still twenty-four. As this majority has been steadily reduced at each subsequent election, the Liberal prophecy was not so far out as it at first appeared. In 1904 the majority fell to twenty, in 1906 to twelve, in 1908 to eight, and in 1910 to six, which is the present figure. The composition of the House is eighty-six Catholics, fortyfour Liberals, thirty-five Socialists, and one Catholic Democrat. Lest it might be thought that a government possessing a majority of six is necessarily doomed to speedy extinction, it may be pointed out that for the Belgian legislature it forms a good working majority which only a sudden epidemic would cause to disappear. The payment of the members (who since 1894 receive a salary of $800 a year) insures regular attendance because it is the condition of receiving the stipend; the deliberateness with which business is carried on and the fact that there are no night sittings eliminate the risk of surprise motions and snap divisions; and therefore, provided no split takes place in the party itself, a majority of six is just as effective as one of sixty.

Reference has been made to the break-up and disunion of the Liberal party that went on for a long time after the fall of the doctrinaire party, and it is only right to say that the Liberals and Socialists have a common working program today which gives them equal chances at the hustings. Whether it would avail to enable them to form a joint administration should they succeed in beating the Catholics in 1912 is a question that had better be left till the event has occurred. A curious phenomenon in Belgium's political life is the appearance of a new section in the Catholic party, known as the Young Right. These politicians are far more liberal than the older Clericals, and their influence is for the moment in the ascendant. But it cannot be doubted that internal differences in what has so long been the solid phalanx of the Catholic party, are likely to bring sooner to an end the long tenure of power that it has enjoyed since 1884.

Source: Boulger, Demetrius C. Belgium. Detroit: Published for the Bay View Reading Club, 1913. Print.

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