Modifications to the electoral system in the Netherlands and Belgium at the turn of the twentieth century were the result of long discussions about what the ‘ideal’ parliamentary representation implied and how it had to be accomplished. Moreover, the mps’ additional reflection on the necessity of a proportional distribution of votes added an extra dimension to the debates in the Lower Houses. ‘Democracy’ then seemed to have become an unavoidable process. However, what did ‘democracy’ mean, exactly, for the parliamentary representatives of different political orientations in both countries? And what role was the introduction of the proportionality system expected to play in, for example, the limitation, display or promotion of said ‘democracy’? A detailed analysis of the parliamentary discourse with which the orators (in Belgium in 1899 and in the Netherlands in 1916-1917) made implicit and explicit connections between this new electoral system and their perceptions of democracy, reveals similarities and differences that surpassed the national boundaries and the left-right divide. ; Peer reviewed