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, which promotes private enterprise and economic liberalism.
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands.
The Pim Fortuyn List was a right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered nationalist as well as adhering to its own distinct ideology of Fortuynism according to some commentators.
The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of 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.
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic and socially conservative political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union; it has participated in all but three cabinets since it became a unitary party.
GroenLinks is a green political party in the Netherlands.
The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist and social democratic political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 1971 as the Communist Party of the Netherlands/Marxist–Leninist, the party has since moderated itself from Marxism–Leninism and Maoism towards democratic socialism and social democracy. The SP has also been described as left-wing populist, far-left and soft Eurosceptic, and is an advocate of Dutch republicanism.
Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives, having held a parliamentary seat since 1998. In the 2010 formation of the first Rutte cabinet, a minority government of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD)—which he left in 2004—and Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Wilders actively participated in the negotiations, resulting in a "tolerance agreement" between the PVV and these parties. He withdrew his party's parliamentary support in 2012, citing disagreements with the cabinet over proposed budget cuts. Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam and the European Union (EU); his views have made him a controversial figure in the Netherlands and abroad. Since 2004, he has been protected at all times by armed police.
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a Dutch politician and businesswoman formerly affiliated with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and later Proud of the Netherlands (TON), which she founded in 2007. Since 2022, she has been a municipal councillor of The Hague, elected on the list led by Richard de Mos.
Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician who has served as prime minister of the Netherlands since 2010. He was also the leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 2006 through 2023. He is currently acting in a demissionary capacity, and will not return to politics following the installation of a new cabinet.
Trots op Nederland is a political party in the Netherlands. It was founded by Rita Verdonk, an independent member of the House of Representatives, previously a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
Hero Brinkman is a police officer and former Dutch politician. He was a member of parliament from 30 November 2006 to 19 September 2012, after being elected as the number four on the electoral list for the Party for Freedom. As the number eleven on the list, he was re-elected in June 2010. As an MP for the PVV, Brinkman focused on home affairs, government renewal, police, defence, administrative burden control, immigration, and asylum.
The Party for Freedom is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands.
Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 12 September 2012 after Prime Minister Mark Rutte handed in his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix on 23 April. The 150 seats of the House of Representatives were contested using party-list proportional representation. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) received a plurality of the votes, followed by the Labour Party (PvdA).
The Onafhankelijke Burger Partij is a political party in the Netherlands. It was founded by Hero Brinkman, a Member of the House of Representatives for the Party for Freedom (PVV). Brinkman left the PVV after repeatedly criticising the lack of democracy within that party, as well as its negative generalisations about certain groups in society. He then founded the OBP and intended it to participate in the Dutch general election of 2012; however, on June 9, 2012, he announced that the OBP was to merge with the party Trots op Nederland to form a new party, the Democratic Political Turning Point. However, Trots op Nederland announced on November 17 that the merger of the OBP with the Trots would be reversed, because the Trots' management was unsatisfied with it.
The 2012 Christian Democratic Appeal leadership election was called to elect the new Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal after incumbent Maxime Verhagen announced his retirement from national politics. Verhagen who had been the acting leader of the party since the resignation of Jan Peter Balkenende on 9 June 2010 did not stand for the leadership election. Sybrand van Haersma Buma the Parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives beat the other candidates in the first round with 51.4% of the votes.
The second Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Asscher cabinet, was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 5 November 2012 until 26 October 2017. The cabinet was formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) after the election of 2012. The cabinet was a centrist grand coalition and had a slim majority in the House of Representatives. VVD Leader Mark Rutte served as Prime Minister; prominent PvdA politician Lodewijk Asscher, a former alderman of Amsterdam, served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs and Employment.
Forum for Democracy is a far-right political party in the Netherlands, founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections in the 2017 general election, winning two seats in the House of Representatives.
DENK is a political party in the Netherlands, founded on a minority rights platform. It is legally registered as "Politieke Beweging Denk".
