The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, is a party of the centre-right that tries to promote private enterprise and economic liberalism.
The Labour Party is a social democratic political party in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands can be described as a consociational state. Dutch politics and governance are characterised by a common striving for broad consensus on important issues, within both of the political community and society as a whole.
Democrats 66 is a social liberal and progressive political party in the Netherlands, which is positioned in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
The Centre Democrats was a political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 1984 by members who split out from the Centre Party (CP), the Centre Democrats was joined one month later by the only CP Member of Parliament—Hans Janmaat. Janmaat went on to become the leader of the party, which subsequently became strongly centered on his person. The newly formed Centre Democrats represented the more moderate faction of the Centre Party, but espoused an anti-immigration and nationalist ideology. Their claims of standing in the centre of the political landscape have thus been disputed by political scientists.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 15 May 2002. The elections were amongst the most dramatic in Dutch history, not just in terms of the electoral results, as they were completely overshadowed by the assassination of leader Pim Fortuyn only nine days before election day.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 3 July 1918. They were the first elections held after a series of reforms that introduced universal male suffrage and pure proportional representation, replacing the previous two-round system in single member constituencies. This change was known as the Pacification of 1917, which also included the introduction of state financing of religious schools, and led to the start of consociational democracy.
Liberalism in the Netherlands started as an anti-monarchical effort spearheaded by the Dutch statesman Thorbecke, who almost single-handedly wrote the 1848 Constitution of the Netherlands that turned the country into a constitutional monarchy.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 5 July 1922. They were the first elections held under universal suffrage, which became reality after the acceptance of a proposal by Henri Marchant in 1919 that gave women full voting rights. Almost all major parties had a woman elected. The number of female representatives increased from one to seven. Only the Anti-Revolutionary Party principally excluded women from the House of Representatives. Another amendment to the electoral law increased the electoral threshold from 0.5% to 0.75%, after six parties had won seats with less than 0.75% of the vote in the previous elections.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 28 April 1971. The Labour Party (PvdA) emerged as the largest party, winning 39 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. The elections were the first without compulsory voting, causing a sharp fall in voter turnout, down to 79% from 95% in the 1967 elections. Barend Biesheuvel of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) became prime minister, leading the first Biesheuvel cabinet.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 25 May 1977. The Labour Party remained the largest party, winning 53 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. Following the election, it took 208 days of negotiations to form a new government. This was a European record for longest government formation that stood until after the 2010 Belgian general election. The Christian Democratic Appeal was formed by the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP), Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the Catholic People's Party (KVP) in 1976. The first joint party leader was a member of the KVP, Dries van Agt.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 26 May 1981. The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) emerged as the largest party, winning 48 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.
Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 8 September 1982. The Labour Party emerged as the largest party, winning 47 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives; however, this would be the last time it did so until 1994.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 21 May 1986. The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) emerged as the largest party, winning 54 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 6 May 1998. The elections saw the purple coalition of social democrats and liberals strengthen its majority. Both the social democratic Labour Party (PvdA) and the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) won considerably, much at the cost of their junior coalition partner, the social liberal Democrats 66 (D66).
Henricus Antonius Franciscus Maria Oliva "Hans" van Mierlo was a Dutch politician and journalist who co-founded Democrats 66 (D66).
The first Kok cabinet, also called the first Purple cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch government from 22 August 1994 until 3 August 1998. The cabinet was formed by the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA), the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the social-liberal Democrats 66 after the election of 1994. The cabinet was a centrist grand coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with Labour Leader Wim Kok serving as Prime Minister. Prominent Liberal politician Hans Dijkstal served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, while Progressive-Liberal Leader Hans van Mierlo served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The second Van Agt cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch Government from 11 September 1981 until 29 May 1982. The cabinet was formed by the christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) and the social-liberal Democrats 66 (D'66) after the election of 1981. The cabinet was a Centre-left grand coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with Christian-Democratic Leader Dries van Agt serving as Prime Minister. Former Labour Prime Minister Joop den Uyl the Labour Leader served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Social Affairs and Employment and was given the portfolio of Netherlands Antilles Affairs, Progressive-Liberal Leader Jan Terlouw served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs.
The first Van Agt cabinet, also called the Van Agt–Wiegel cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch Government from 19 December 1977 until 11 September 1981. The cabinet was formed by the christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) after the election of 1977. The cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a slim majority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Dries van Agt serving as Prime Minister. Liberal Leader Hans Wiegel served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior.
This article gives an overview of Christian democracy in the Netherlands, which is also called confessionalism, including political Catholicism and Protestantism.
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