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.
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.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2006, following the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet. The election proved relatively successful for the governing Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which remained the largest party with 41 seats, a loss of only three seats. The largest increase in seats was for the Socialist Party (SP), which went from nine to 25 seats. The main opposition party, the social democratic Labour Party (PvdA) lost nine of its 42 seats, while the right-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the progressive liberal Democrats 66 lost a considerable portion of their seats, six of 28 and three of six, respectively. New parties, such as the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) of former VVD MP Geert Wilders and the animal rights party Party for the Animals (PvdD) were also successful, with the PVV winning nine seats and the PvdD winning two, thereby becoming the first animal rights group to enter a European parliament.
Marie-Fleur "Fleur" Agema is a Dutch politician and former spatial designer. As a member of the Party for Freedom she has been an MP since 30 November 2006. She focuses on matters of caregiving.
Barry Madlener is a Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2012. A member of the Party for Freedom (PVV), he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2006. Madlener became the PVV's leader in the European Parliament following the 2009 election, an office he resigned from upon his reelection to the House of Representatives in 2012.
Louis Bontes is a Dutch politician and former police officer. He was a member of the European Parliament (2009–2010) and a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands (2010–2017) for the Party for Freedom (PVV) until 2013 and as an independent since. He was the cofounder and chairman of the political party For the Netherlands (VNL) from 2014 to 2015.
After the Dutch general election of 9 June 2010, a cabinet formation took place in Netherlands. This led to First Rutte cabinet after 127 days. For the first time in the Netherlands there was a minority cabinet. The cabinet consisted of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), with tolerable support from the Party for Freedom (PVV).
Sybrand van Haersma Buma is a Dutch politician serving as Mayor of Leeuwarden since 2019. Until 2019, he was a member of the House of Representatives from 2002 who also served as the parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) from 2010 and as the leader of his party from 2012.
The first Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Verhagen cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 14 October 2010 until 5 November 2012. The cabinet was formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) after the election of 2010. The cabinet was a right-wing coalition and had a minority in the House of Representatives but had confidence and supply from the Party for Freedom (PVV) for a slim majority with Liberal Leader Mark Rutte serving as Prime Minister. Christian Democratic Leader Maxime Verhagen served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.
The Party for Freedom is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands.
Marcial Manrique Hernandez is a Dutch former army officer and former politician.
Joram Jaron van Klaveren is a Dutch politician. As a member of the Party for Freedom he was an MP from 17 June 2010 until 21 March 2014. He subsequently was an independent until his term in office ended on 23 March 2017. He focused on matters of desegregation, employment-to-population ratio, egalitarianism and emancipation. From 24 March 2011 until 11 June 2014, he also was a member of the States-Provincial of Flevoland. He became well-known for anti-Muslim comments. In October 2018, he converted to Islam halfway through writing an anti-Islam book. After becoming a Muslim, he decided to rededicate his book to his search for religiosity and the subsequent conversion to Islam. His book titled Apostate: From Christianity to Islam in times of sécularisation and terror was published in both Dutch and English.
Richard de Mos is a Dutch politician and teacher who served as a member of the House of Representatives for the Party for Freedom (PVV) from 1 September 2009 to 20 September 2012. He sat on the municipal council of The Hague from 11 March 2010 to 7 June 2018, when he became an alderman in the municipal executive for the Groep de Mos/Hart voor Den Haag. He was removed through a motion of no confidence on 16 October 2019 and regained his seat in the municipal council the following 7 November. He was the lijsttrekker for Code Orange (CO) in the 2021 general election.
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.
Chris A. Jansen is a Dutch politician, who served as a member of the House of Representatives between November 2019 and March 2021 on behalf of the right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV).
J.H. "Henk" de Vree is a Dutch politician, who served as a temporary member of the House of Representatives between December 2020 and March 2021. There, he represented the right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV).
Eelco Heinen is a Dutch politician, serving as a member of the House of Representatives since March 2021. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and previously worked as a party staffer.
Ruben Pieter Brekelmans is a Dutch politician who has served as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021 on behalf of the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He previously worked as a political assistant and civil servant at a few government ministries. As a parliamentarian, he focuses his work on foreign affairs and migration.
