ons: 10 provinces (French: provinces, singular -
province; Flemish: provincien, singular - provincie); Antwerpen,
Brabant Wallon, Hainaut, Liege, Limburg, Luxembourg, Namur,
Oost-Vlaanderen, Vlaams Brabant, West-Vlaanderen
note: the Brussels Capital Region is not included within the 10
provinces

Independence: 4 October 1830 (from the Netherlands)

National holiday: National Day, 21 July (ascension of King LEOPOLD I
to the throne in 1831)

Constitution: 7 February 1831, last revised 14 July 1993; parliament
approved a constitutional package creating a federal state

Legal system: civil law system influenced by English constitutional
theory; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Executive branch:
chief of state: King ALBERT II (since 9 August 1993); Heir Apparent
Prince PHILIPPE, son of the monarch
head of government: Prime Minister Guy VERHOFSTADT (since 13 July
1999)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the monarch and approved by
Parliament
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister appointed
by the monarch and then approved by Parliament
note: government coalition - VLD, PRL, PS, SP, AGALEV, and ECOLO

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of a Senate or
Senaat in Dutch, Senat in French (71 seats; 40 members are directly
elected by popular vote, 31 are indirectly elected; members serve
four-year terms) and a Chamber of Deputies or Kamer van
Volksvertegenwoordigers in Dutch, Chambre des Representants in French
(150 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote on the basis
of proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate and Chamber of Deputies - last held 13 June 1999
(next to be held in NA 2003)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - VLD 15.4%, CVP
14.7%, PRL 10.6%, PS 9.7%, VB 9.4%, SP 8.9%, ECOLO 7.4%, AGALEV 7.1%,
PSC 6.0%, VU 5.1%; seats by party - VLD 11, CVP 10, PS 10, PRL 9, VB
6, SP 6, ECOLO 6, AGALEV 5, PSC 5, VU 3; Chamber of Deputies - percent
of vote by party - VLD 14.3%, CVP 14.1%, PS 10.2%, PRL 10.1%, VB 9.9%,
SP 9.5%, ECOLO 7.4%, AGALEV 7.0%, PSC 5.9%, VU 5.6%; seats by party -
VLD 23, CVP 22, PS 19, PRL 18, VB 15, SP 14, ECOLO 11, PSC 10, AGALEV
9, VU 8, FN 1
note: as a result of the 1993 constitutional revision that furthered
devolution into a federal state, there are now three levels of
government (