rewarding loyal members that were not elected. Former categories of senators Prior to the Belgian federal election of May 21, 1995, there were 184 senators, the largest part of which were directly elected, some appointed by the Provincial Councils and others co-opted. The fourth state reform, which took place in 1993, revised the Belgian Constitution, reduced the number of senators to 71. The change took effect following the May 21, 1995 federal election. Directly elected senators Until the elections of 25 May 2014, the Senate contained 40 directly elected members. To elect these members, the electorate was divided into two electoral colleges: a Dutch and a French electoral college. Unlike for European Parliament elections, there was no German-speaking electoral college. Instead, the members of the German-speaking Community were a part of the French electoral college. Even though there were two electoral colleges, there were three constituencies for Senate elections: a Flemish constituency, a Walloon constituency and the constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, which comprised the Brussels-Capital Region and the surrounding part of the Flemish Region. The constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde ceased to exist following the 2014 sixth State Reform. The voters in the Flemish constituency belonged to the Dutch electoral college and the voters in the Walloon constituency (which also includes the people living in the German-speaking Community) belonged to the French electoral college, whereas the voters in Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde could choose for which electoral college they wanted to vote: they had the lists of both electoral colleges on one ballot. In each electoral college, the seats were divided by proportional representation, using the D'Hondt method. Of the total of 40 directly elected senators, 25 were elected by the Dutch electoral college and 15 by the French electoral college. These numbers were in the Belgian Constitution and roughly reflect the ratio of Dutch-speakers to French-speakers by population. The directly elected senators were always elected on the same day as the members of the Chamber of Representatives, for a term of 4 years, except if the Chambers were dissolved earlier. The last federal election that had directly elected senators took place on Sunday June 13, 2010. Provincial senators Between 1894 and 1991, a number of senators were elected by each provincial council of the nine provinces. The number was dependent on a province's population, and increased along with the increase in a province's population. Senators by right Before the sixth state reform, the children of