Popular consultation
Name given to the advisory Referendum on the return of King Léopold III and organized on March 12th, 1950. The term of consultation was used in this circumstance because the Belgian Constitution did not authorize the referendum then and still does not authorize it, at the same time for legal reasons and policies which this popular consultation was precisely going to highlight.
It is this referendum which, involving the sharp opposition of the Walloon and Flemish results, then extremely serious disorders in Wallonia, brought the political world to an agreement which included the departure of the king and put a term at the royal Question.
The Belgian Constitution did not envisage and still does not envisage the organization of decisional referendums (except on the level of the areas and communities). The results strongly opposed the Flanders, or the catholic Parti, on the right, supported YES and the Wallonia (where Resistance, the Socialists, the Communists, the liberals, certain Christian movements, FGTB preached NOT). The numerically majority Flanders tipped the scales in favor of the King for the worldwide.
Results of the Consultation in Wallonia
NOT, 58%, especially carried it in urban and industrial Wallonia, but also in the more rural areas where, even when YES carries it, it carries it more slightly than in Flanders. If one today examines the Provinces of Wallonia within the meaning of aujourd', one notices that three provinces out of five - Hainaut, the Brabant Walloon, Liege - answer NOT. The result is more tangent in the province of Namur where YES only accuracy carries it and it is only in Luxembourg that it exceeds the 60% whereas the average of YES in Flanders exceeds 70%. The three Walloon provinces of NOT represent nearly 80% of the Walloon population.
Three of the five Walloon provinces of today voted in the same direction (and not two like it is still often said), the Province of Liege with 59% of the voices (but the district of Verviers voted YES, undoubtedly because of the weight of German-speaking, more preserving), the Province of Hainaut to 64% and current the Province of the Walloon Brabant, to 65%. The Province of Namur voted YES but to 53% only (the district of Namur voted NOT), and the Province of Luxembourg voted YES (to 65%)
Last nines of the 13 Walloon districts, most populated, voted NOT, the least populated YES (except that of Verviers).
Explanations
It is generally admitted that the tinted behavior of Attentisme of the King Léopold III during the war, drew up against him a great number of Walloons, all at the same time marked by adhesion with socialism, Communism, with the liberal currents, the stronger participation in Resistance. But also by the fact that the Wallons soldiers had been maintained with the statute of Prisoner of war in Germany. Percentage of prisoners compared to the population being generally higher than 2% of each district (except in part of that of Arlon and in the Cantons gernamophones), whereas it is of some for/thousand in Flanders and in Brussels (the prisoners of war of Brussels were also repatriated).
Results of the consultation in Flanders
In Flanders by province the less good performance in favor of the King was obtained in the Province of Antwerp with a percentage however of 68%, higher than that (65% of voice) of the Province of Luxembourg.
All the Flemish districts voted yes, in a proportion higher than all the Walloon districts, except Antwerp which is exceeded by the less populated districts of Arlon and Neufchâteau.
In Brussels, not carried it in 52% of the voices.
The total Belgian result
On the whole 57,68% of the Belgians voted in favor of the recovery by the king from his prerogatives and 43,32% NOT. This result was not accepted in Wallonia causing the serious disorders which were going to become the epilog of the royal question.