# 2003 Belgian federal election

Federal elections were held in Belgium on 18 May 2003, the first under a new electoral code. One of the novelties was an electoral threshold of 5, which has cost many seats to the N-VA and the Green parties, Ecolo and Agalev. The Belgian Socialists recovered well; the liberal and nationalist parties increased their vote as well.
The Flemish Greens lost all their seats. The Greens were attacked on two fronts: some, including their coalition partners, accused them of being too fundamentalist, while others said that they had betrayed their ideals. The resignation of a Walloon green minister (Isabelle Durant), one week before the elections, probably didn't do them much good either. Although it was predicted in some opinion polls, the gains of the Front National were surprising, considering that it seldom appeared in the media. The most important trend was the recovery of the Flemish social-democrats, led by the popular (some would say populist) Steve Stevaert. The fact that Elio Di Rupo was learning Dutch caused rumours that he hoped to become prime minister, if the social-democrats would turn out to be the largest political family.
Themes that probably influenced the election results in some way were the government's opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the controversy around the nuisance around the airport of Zaventem, the controversy surrounding the banning of tobacco publicity, and unemployment, but a general dominating theme was lacking.

## Results
### Chamber of Representatives

| | Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten | 1,009,223 | 15.36 | +1.06 | 25 | +2 |
| | Socialistische Partij Anders–Spirit | 979,750 | 14.91 | +5.37 | 23 | +9 |
| | Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams | 870,749 | 13.25 | –0.84 | 21 | –1 |
| | Parti Socialiste | 855,992 | 13.02 | +2.86 | 25 | +6 |
| | Vlaams Blok | 767,605 | 11.68 | +1.72 | 18 | +3 |
| | Mouvement Réformateur | 748,952 | 11.40 | +1.26 | 24 | +6 |
| | Centre démocrate humaniste | 359,660 | 5.47 | –0.40 | 8 | –2 |
| | New Flemish Alliance | 201,399 | 3.06 | New | 1 | New |
| | Ecolo | 201,118 | 3.06 | –4.29 | 4 | –7 |
| | Agalev | 162,205 | 2.47 | –4.52 | 0 | –9 |
| | National Front | 130,012 | 1.98 | +0.53 | 1 | 0 |
| | Vivant | 81,337 | 1.24 | –0.86 | 0 | 0 |
| | Chrétiens démocrates francophones [fr] | 38,346 | 0.58 | New | 0 | New |
| | Liberal Appeal | 29,868 | 0.45 | New | 0 | New |
| | Rassemblement Wallonie France | 25,416 | 0.39 | New | 0 | New |
| | Workers' Party of Belgium | 20,825 | 0.32 | –0.18 | 0 | 0 |
| | RESIST | 10,059 | 0.15 | New | 0 | New |
| | Belgian Union | 10,034 | 0.15 | New | 0 | New |
| | Parti citoyenneté et prospérité | 8,258 | 0.13 | New | 0 | New |
| | Socialist Movement [fr] | 8,116 | 0.12 | New | 0 | New |
| | Communist Party of Belgium | 6,759 | 0.10 | –0.27 | 0 | 0 |
| | New Belgian Front | 6,736 | 0.10 | –0.26 | 0 | 0 |
| | Maria | 6,440 | 0.10 | New | 0 | New |
| | France | 5,668 | 0.09 | –0.03 | 0 | 0 |
| | Nation | 4,190 | 0.06 | New | 0 | New |
| | VeiligBlauw | 3,237 | 0.05 | New | 0 | New |
| | Left Socialist Party | 2,929 | 0.04 | New | 0 | New |
| | Communist Party–RDS | 2,522 | 0.04 | New | 0 | New |
| | CHOPE | 2,430 | 0.04 | New | 0 | New |
| | RDS–Communist Party | 2,084 | 0.03 | New | 0 | New |
| | UFE | 1,910 | 0.03 | New | 0 | New |
| | OMNIUM | 1,616 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New |
| | PDA | 1,415 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New |
| | Vrijheid, Intimiteit, Thuis, Arbeid en Liefde [nl] | 1,325 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New |
| | Noor | 1,141 | 0.02 | +0.00 | 0 | 0 |
| | DL | 1,052 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New |
| | MDT | 914 | 0.01 | New | 0 | New |
| | Parti humaniste–Humanistische Partij | 521 | 0.01 | +0.01 | 0 | 0 |
| | PPR | 376 | 0.01 | New | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 6,572,189 | 100.00 | – | 150 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 6,572,189 | 94.75 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 364,412 | 5.25 | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 6,936,601 | 100.00 | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 7,570,637 | 91.63 | | | |
| Source: IBZ |||||||

### Senate

| | Socialistische Partij Anders–Spirit | 1,013,560 | 15.47 | +6.59 | 7 | +3 |
| | Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten | 1,007,868 | 15.38 | +0.01 | 7 | +1 |
| | Parti Socialiste | 840,908 | 12.84 | +3.19 | 6 | +2 |
| | Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams | 832,849 | 12.71 | –2.03 | 6 | 0 |
| | Mouvement Réformateur | 795,757 | 12.15 | +1.58 | 5 | 0 |
| | Vlaams Blok | 741,940 | 11.32 | +1.91 | 5 | +1 |
| | Centre démocrate humaniste | 362,705 | 5.54 | –0.49 | 2 | –1 |
| | Ecolo | 208,868 | 3.19 | –4.21 | 1 | –2 |
| | New Flemish Alliance | 200,273 | 3.06 | New | 0 | New |
| | Agalev | 161,024 | 2.46 | –4.62 | 0 | –3 |
| | National Front | 147,305 | 2.25 | +0.75 | 1 | +1 |
| | Vivant | 86,723 | 1.32 | –0.66 | 0 | 0 |
| | Chrétiens démocrates francophones [fr] | 38,339 | 0.59 | New | 0 | New |
| | Rassemblement Wallonie France | 27,424 | 0.42 | New | 0 | New |
| | Liberal Appeal | 26,629 | 0.41 | New | 0 | New |
| | Workers' Party of Belgium | 18,699 | 0.29 | +0.11 | 0 | 0 |
| | RESIST | 17,604 | 0.27 | New | 0 | New |
| | Left Socialist Party | 8,337 | 0.13 | New | 0 | New |
| | VeiligBlauw | 8,048 | 0.12 | New | 0 | New |
| | Social Liberal Democrats [nl] | 6,651 | 0.10 | –0.02 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 6,551,511 | 100.00 | – | 40 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 6,551,511 | 94.48 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 383,093 | 5.52 | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 6,934,604 | 100.00 | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 7,570,637 | 91.60 | | | |
| Source: IBZ |||||||