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The Communist Party of Belgium and the muncipal elections of 24 November 1946: a deceptive breakthrough

par Delwit, Pascal
Référence Journal of Belgian History, 54, 1, page (78-108)
Publication Publié, 2024-04-01

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

On November 24, 1946, the first municipal elections in Belgium since the end of the Second World War were held. The Communist Party of Belgium (PCB-KPB), which had had relatively little presence in the municipalities until then, achieved what was to be its best electoral and political performance at this level. After the election, the communist leaders reported a significant electoral leap compared to the previous local elections – 1926, 1932 and 1938 – and they claimed that they had won twenty mayoral positions and that more than one hundred of their candidates had been elected as aldermen. Compared to pre-war elections, the result was an undeniable step forward and a potential lever for increased influence. But did this really turn out to be the case? This article tackles the question from two perspectives. The first concerns the data analysis of the election. What were the PCB-KPB’s actual electoral and political results ? This is a highly complex question as no database for the 1946 municipal elections exists. Furthermore, information about the communal councils is often patchy or even missing. The second perspective concerns the PCB-KPB itself, notably in terms of its ambitions : how did the PCB-KPB experience and analyse its results on November 24, 1946 ?