# 1971 Belgian general election

General elections were held in Belgium on 7 November 1971. The result was a victory for the Christian People's Party, which won 40 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 34 of the 106 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 91.5%. Elections to the nine provincial councils were also held.
The linguistic issues led to the splitting of the major parties into separate Flemish and Francophone parties. Consequently the election returned a very fragmented parliament.
The election followed the first state reform, with the creation of three cultural communities. The newly elected members of parliament would thus also serve in the newly established cultural councils.

## Results
### Chamber of Representatives

| | Belgian Socialist Party | 1,335,730 | 25.29 | 57 | –2 |
| | Christian People's Party | 967,701 | 18.32 | 40 | New |
| | Party for Freedom and Progress | 865,655 | 16.39 | 34 | –13 |
| | People's Union | 586,917 | 11.11 | 21 | +1 |
| | Christian Social Party | 327,393 | 6.20 | 15 | New |
| | Walloon Rally | 306,606 | 5.81 | 12 | +6 |
| | PSC–CVP | 292,101 | 5.53 | 12 | −57 |
| | FDF–Walloon Rally | 286,639 | 5.43 | 12 | New |
| | Communist Party | 161,517 | 3.06 | 5 | 0 |
| | Red Lions | 104,040 | 1.97 | 4 | +4 |
| | Independent Liberal Party | 21,919 | 0.42 | 0 | New |
| | Independent Christians | 7,801 | 0.15 | 0 | New |
| | Liberal Flemish People's Party | 2,740 | 0.05 | 0 | New |
| | Trotskyists | 2,660 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 |
| | Kaganovemus | 2,580 | 0.05 | 0 | New |
| | Van Meerhage | 2,004 | 0.04 | 0 | New |
| | Z Kleur | 1,547 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 |
| | Democratic and Progressive Union | 1,534 | 0.03 | 0 | New |
| | Francophone Party | 1,471 | 0.03 | 0 | New |
| | New Party | 899 | 0.02 | 0 | New |
| | U Verbruik | 640 | 0.01 | 0 | New |
| | Dieferenbes | 633 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 |
| | De Keyzer | 565 | 0.01 | 0 | New |
| | R D Wal | 339 | 0.01 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 5,281,631 | 100.00 | 212 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 5,281,631 | 91.99 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 459,637 | 8.01 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 5,741,268 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 6,271,240 | 91.55 | | |
| Source: Belgian Elections ||||||

### Senate

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
| | CVP–PSC | 1,547,853 | 29.70 | 34 | +5 |
| | Belgian Socialist Party | 1,326,242 | 25.45 | 24 | –9 |
| | Party for Freedom and Progress | 776,514 | 14.90 | 15 | −7 |
| | FDF–Walloon Rally | 598,768 | 11.49 | 6 | +1 |
| | People's Union | 592,509 | 11.37 | 12 | +3 |
| | Communist Party of Belgium | 106,799 | 2.05 | 1 | −1 |
| | BSP–Red Lions | 97,371 | 1.87 | 0 | New |
| | Liberal Democrat and Pluralist Party | 81,133 | 1.56 | 2 | New |
| | Democratic and Progressive Union | 61,616 | 1.18 | 0 | New |
| | Independent Liberal Party | 15,138 | 0.29 | 0 | New |
| | Kaganovemus | 3,800 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 |
| | Liberal Flemish People's Party | 3,159 | 0.06 | 0 | New |
| | Valentyn | 513 | 0.01 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 5,211,415 | 100.00 | 94 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 5,211,415 | 92.62 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 415,246 | 7.38 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 5,626,661 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 6,271,240 | 89.72 | | |
| Source: Belgian Elections ||||||