Parliament of Wallonia

Parliament of Wallonia

French: *Parlement de Wallonie*

German: *Parlament von Wallonien*
French:	Parlement de Wallonie
German:	Parlament von Wallonien
	PS ; since 13 September 2019
Structure
Seats	75
Political groups	Government (54) PS (23); MR (19); Ecolo (12); Opposition (21) LE (11); PTB (10);
Length of term	5 years
Elections
Last election	Namur
Website
	http://parlement.wallonie.be/

The Parliament of Wallonia (

Namur, the capital of Wallonia, at the symbolic confluence of the Meuse and the Sambre, the two main rivers of the most inhabited parts of Wallonia, the Sillon industriel. On the other side of the Meuse, facing the Parliament, is the Élysette, the seat of the Government of Wallonia

.

History and names

A 1974 law on the temporary creation of regions installed a Walloon Regional Council (alongside a Flemish Regional Council), which were both abolished in 1977. At the creation of the first (permanent) regional assemblies in 1980 (second state reform), the body was also called "Walloon Regional Council" (Conseil régional wallon). Its members were the national representatives and senators elected in the Walloon Region, who thus by law held two offices simultaneously.

The fourth state reform (1993), transformed Belgium into a federal state and changed the "Walloon Regional Council" (Conseil régional wallon) into the "Council of the Walloon Region" (Conseil de la Région wallonne), which was directly elected for the first time on

deputies

" (députés wallons).

A 2005 constitutional amendment revised the official terminology for all community and regional councils into community and regional parliaments, changing the "Council of the Walloon Region" into the "Walloon Parliament" (Parlement wallon).

In 2015, the Parliament opted to use the term "Parliament of Wallonia" (Parlement de Wallonie) instead of "Walloon Parliament".

Composition

All members of the Parliament of Wallonia are also members of the Parliament of the French Community, except for German-speaking members (currently Monika Dethier-Neumann [de] and Edmund Stoffels [de]) who represent the German-speaking population and are advisory members of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community.

The parliament exercises several functions:

It discusses and passes decrees, and they can take initiatives to draw them up. After this, decrees are sanctioned and promulgated by the Walloon Government.
It controls the Walloon Government. Control is exercised via the vote.
It ratifies the international treaties linked to its powers.

Compositions

2019–2024 (current)

Affiliation		Members
	Parti Socialiste ("Socialist Party")	23
	Mouvement Réformateur ("Reformist Movement")	20
	Ecolo ("Environmentalist")	12
	Parti du Travail de Belgique ("Workers' Party of Belgium")	10
	Centre démocrate humaniste ("Humanist Democratic Centre")	10
Total		75

2014–2019

This is the composition of the Walloon Parliament following the

2014 regional election

.

Affiliation		Members
	Parti Socialiste ("Socialist Party")	30
	Mouvement Réformateur ("Reformist Movement")	25
	Centre démocrate humaniste ("Humanist Democratic Centre")	13
	Ecolo ("Environmentalist")	4
	Parti du Travail de Belgique ("Workers' Party of Belgium")	2
	Parti populaire ("People's Party")	1
Total		75

2009–2014

This is the composition of the Walloon Parliament following the

2009 regional election. The PS, Ecolo and CDH formed together a government

.

Affiliation		Members
	Parti Socialiste ("Socialist Party")	29
	Mouvement Réformateur ("Reformist Movement")	19
	Ecolo ("Environmentalist")	14
	Centre démocrate humaniste ("Humanist Democratic Centre")	13
Total		75

2004–2009

This was the composition of the Walloon Parliament following the

2004 regional election. The PS and CDH formed together a government

.

Affiliation		Members
	Parti Socialiste ("Socialist Party")	34
	Mouvement Réformateur ("Reformist Movement")	20
	Centre démocrate humaniste ("Humanist Democratic Centre")	14
	Front National ("National Front")	4
	Ecolo ("Environmentalist")	3
Total		75

1999–2004

This was the composition of the Walloon Parliament following the

1999 regional election. The PS, Ecolo and PRL formed together a government

.

Affiliation		Members
	Parti Socialiste ("Socialist Party")	25
	Front Démocratique des Francophones ("Democratic Front of the Francophones")	21
	Ecolo ("Environmentalist")	14
	Parti Social Chrétien ("Christian Socialist Party")	14
	Front National ("National Front")	1
Total		75

1995–1999

8	30	16	19	2
Ecolo	PS	PSC	PRL + FDF	FN

1999–2004

14	25	14	21	1
Ecolo	PS	PSC	PRL + FDF	FN

2004–2009

3	34	14	20	4
Ecolo	PS	CDH	MR	FN

2009–2014

14	29	13	19
Ecolo	PS	CDH	MR

2014–2019

2	4	30	13	25	1
PTB–GO!	Ecolo	PS	CDH	MR	PP

2019–present

10	12	23	10	20
PTB–GO!	Ecolo	PS	CDH	MR

Constituencies

The Walloon Parliament is the only Belgian parliament which still uses arrondissement-based constituencies. The federal Chamber of Representatives and the Flemish Parliament both merged theirs into larger province-based constituencies.

A January 2018 law merged both Luxembourg constituencies and reformed the Hainaut constituencies (* = boundaries changed), following a successful challenge by Ecolo to the Constitutional Court that constituencies with too few seats are unrepresentative.

Province	Constituency	1999	2009	2014	2019
Liège	Liège	14	13
	Verviers	6
	Huy-Waremme	4
Hainaut	Charleroi	10	9		10 *
	Thuin	3			10 *
	Tournai-Ath-Mouscron	7			7 *
	Mons	6		5	5 *
	Soignies	4			5 *
Walloon Brabant	Nivelles	7	8
Namur	Namur	6		7
Namur	Dinant-Philippeville	3	4
Luxembourg	Arlon-Marche-Bastogne	3			6
Luxembourg	Neufchâteau-Virton	2			6