Composition
Of the total of 71 elected senators, 40 are elected directly, 21 appointed by the Community parliaments and 10 senators are co-opted. The overall distribution of seats between parties is however determined by the results of the direct election. Prior to the Belgian federal election of May 21, 1995, there were 184 elected senators. The fourth State Reform, which took place in 1993, revised the Belgian Constitution and replaced the provincial senators, who were appointed by the Provincial Councils, with Community senators. The change took effect following the May 21, 1995 federal election.
Read more about this topic: Senate (Belgium)
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
“Since body and soul are radically different from one another and belong to different worlds, the destruction of the body cannot mean the destruction of the soul, any more than a musical composition can be destroyed when the instrument is destroyed.”
—Oscar Cullman. Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? The Witness of the New Testament, ch. 1, Epworth Press (1958)
“It is my PRIDE, my damn’d, native, unconquerable Pride, that plunges me into Distraction. You must know that 19-20th of my Composition is Pride. I must either live a Slave, a Servant; to have no Will of my own, no Sentiments of my own which I may freely declare as such;Mor DIE—perplexing alternative!”
—Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770)