Chapter XCVI: Section II: Of the Senate

Article 53.
The Senate is composed:

1. Of members elected in proportion to the population of each
province, conformably to Article 47; though the law may
require that the electors shall be 30 years of age, the
provisions of Article 48 are applicable to the election of
these senators.

2. Of members elected by the provincial councils, to the
number of two from each province having less than 500,000
inhabitants, of three from each province having from 500,000
to 1,000,000 of inhabitants, and of four from each province
having more than one million of inhabitants.

Article 54.
The number of senators elected directly by the electoral body
is equal to half the number of the members of the Chamber of
Representatives.

Article 55.
Senators are elected for eight years; half of them are changed
every four years, according to the order of the series
determined by the electoral law. In case of dissolution, the
Senate is entirely renewed.

Article 56.
To be eligible for election and to remain a senator, it is
necessary:
1. To be a Belgian by birth or to have received the "grande
naturalization";
2. To enjoy civil and political rights;
3. To reside in Belgium;
4. To be at least 40 years of age;
5. To pay into the treasury of the State at least 1,200 francs
of direct taxes, patents included; Or to be either proprietor
or usufructuary of real property situated in Belgium, the
cadastral revenue from which is at least 12,000 francs. In the
provinces where the number of those eligible does not attain
the proportion of one in 5,000 inhabitants, the list is
completed by adding the heaviest tax-payers of the province to
the extent of that proportion. Citizens whose names are
inscribed on the complementary list are eligible only in the
province where they reside.

Article 56 bis.
Senators elected by the provincial councils are exempted from
all conditions of census; they cannot belong to the assembly
which elects them, nor can they have been a member of it
during the year of the election, nor during the two previous
years.

Article 57.
Senators receive neither salary nor indemnity.

Article 58.
The King's sons, or in their absence the Belgian Princes of
the branch of the Royal family called to reign, are by right
senators at 18 years of age. They have a deliberative voice
only at 25 years of age.

Article 59.
Any assembly of the Senate which may be held outside the time
of the session of the Chamber of Representatives is null and
void.