§ 1. The Senate is composed by sixty senators, including:

1 ° twenty-nine senators appointed by the Flemish Parliament within it or within the Dutch language group of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region;

2 ° ten senators appointed by the Parliament of the French Community within it;

3 ° eight senators appointed by the Walloon Region Parliament;

4 ° two senators appointed by the French language group of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region;

5 ° a senator appointed by the Parliament of the German-speaking Community within it;

6 ° six senators designated by the senators referred to in 1 °;

7 ° four senators designated by the senators referred to in 2 ° to 4 °.

§ 2. At least one of the senators referred to in § 1, 1 °, is domiciled, on the day of his election, in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital.

Three of the senators referred to in § 1, 2 °, are members of the French language group of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region. By derogation from § 1, 2 °, one of these three senators must not be a member of the Parliament of the French Community.

§ 3. The Senate does not have more than two-thirds of senators of the same gender.

§ 4. Where a list referred to in Article 68, § 2, is not represented by senators referred to in § 1, 1 °, or §1, 2 °, 3 ° or 4 ° respectively, the designation Senators referred to in § 1, 6 °, or § 1, 7 °, may be elected by the deputies elected on the aforementioned list.

Transitional provision

This article comes into force on Election Day for the full renewal of the Community and Regional Parliaments in 2014. To date, the following provisions apply:

"§ 1. Without prejudice to section 72, the Senate shall consist of seventy-one senators, of whom:

1 ° twenty-five senators elected in accordance with Article 61 by the Dutch electoral college;

2 ° fifteen senators elected in accordance with Article 61 by the French electoral college;

3 ° ten senators appointed by the Parliament of the Flemish Community, called the Flemish Parliament, from among its members;

4 ° ten senators appointed by the Parliament of the French Community within it;

5 ° a senator appointed by the Parliament of the German-speaking Community within it;

6 ° six senators designated by the senators referred to in 1 ° and 3 °;

7 ° four senators designated by the senators referred to in 2 ° and 4°.

When the full renewal of their Parliament does not coincide with the renewal of the Senate, the senators referred to in paragraph 1, 3 ° to 5 °, who no longer sit in their Parliament, retain their senatorial duties until the opening of the first session following the renewal of their Parliament.

§ 2. At least one of the senators referred to in § 1, 1 °, 3 ° and 6 °, is domiciled, on the day of his election, in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital.

At least six of the senators referred to in § 1, 2 °, 4 ° and 7 ° are domiciled, on the day of their election, in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital. If four or more of the senators referred to in § 1, 2 °, are not domiciled, on the day of their election, in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital, at least two of the senators referred to in § 1, 4 °, must be domiciled, the day of their election, in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital.