page_title: Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
section_title: Qualifications
hierarchical_section_title: Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) / Qualifications
caption_attribution_description: English: Oath-taking of Leopold&#160;II of Belgium, Palace of the Nation (Brussels), 17 December 1865. Français&#160;: Prestation de serment de Léopold&#160;II de Belgique, Palais de la Nation (Bruxelles), le 17 décembre 1865.
context_page_description: The Chamber of Representatives is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the "lower house" of the Federal Parliament.
context_section_description: Article 64 of the Belgian constitution sets forth four qualifications for representatives: each representative must be at least 21 years old, possess the Belgian nationality, have the full enjoyment of civil and political rights, and be resident in Belgium. A representative can only enter into office after having taken the oath of office, in either of the three official languages in Belgium: Dutch, French or German. He or she can also choose to take the oath in more than one language. The oath of office is as follows: "I swear to observe the Constitution". (Dutch: Ik zweer de Grondwet na te leven, French: Je jure d'observer la Constitution, German: Ich schwöre, die Verfassung zu befolgen)
  Certain offices are incompatible with the office of representative. Members of a regional or community parliament who take the oath of office as a representative automatically cease to sit in the regional or community parliament, in accordance with the Belgian Electoral Code. The same applies the other way around as well, a representative who takes the oath of office in a regional or community parliament automatically ceases to be a representative. A member of the Chamber of Representatives may not also be a member of the Senate at the same time, and senators must give up their seats in the Senate in order to join the Chamber of Representatives.
  Another important incompatibility is based on the separation of powers. A representative who is appointed as a minister ceases to sit in the Chamber of Representatives and is replaced for as long as he or she is a minister, but if that individual resigns as a minister, he or she can return to the Chamber, in accordance with Article 50 of the Belgian Constitution. A representative cannot be a civil servant or a member of the judiciary at the same time, however, a civil servant who is elected to the Chamber is entitled to political leave and doesn't have to resign as a civil servant. It is also not possible to be a member of the Federal Parliament and a Member of the European Parliament at the same time.
  The Chamber of Representatives does not systematically check whether any of these (or other) incompatibilities apply to its members, however, newly elected members are informed of the most important incompatibilities at the start of their mandate and it is up to them to verify whether they are in compliance with the regulations regarding incompatibilities and, if not, to determine which office they will abandon.
caption: Leopold II takes the oath
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