The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands.
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr.KmstkNO CSG is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010.
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic 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.
Democrats 66 is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands. Its name refers to the year 1966, when it was founded by a group of young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo.
The second Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 27 May 2003 until 7 July 2006. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the social-liberal Democrats 66 (D66) after the election of 2003. The cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a slim majority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as Prime Minister. Liberal Leader Gerrit Zalm, a former Minister of Finance, served as Deputy Prime Minister and returned as Minister of Finance, while former Progressive-Liberal Leader Thom de Graaf served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without Portfolio for the Interior.
Wouter Jacob Bos (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋʌutər ˈbɔs]; is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party and businessman.
Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Secretary General of NATO from 1 January 2004 until 1 August 2009.
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.
André Rouvoet is a retired Dutch politician of the Reformatory Political Federation (RPF) party and later the Christian Union (CU) party and jurist. He is the chairman of the executive board of the Healthcare Insurance association (ZN) since 1 February 2012.
Bernard Rudolf "Ben" Bot is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2006 following the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet. The elections 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.
The third Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 7 July 2006 until 22 February 2007. 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 fall of the second Balkenende cabinet. The caretaker rump cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a minority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as Prime Minister. Former Liberal Leader Gerrit Zalm continued as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Joannes Gerardus "Joop" Wijn is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and businessman.
Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and historian.
Following the 2006 Dutch general election, held on November 22, a process of cabinet formation started, involving negotiations about which coalition partners to form a common programme of policy and to divide the posts in cabinet. On February 22, 2007 it resulted in the formation of the Fourth Balkenende cabinet.
The fourth Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Union (CU) and the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) after the election of 2006. The cabinet was a centrist grand coalition and had a slim majority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as prime minister. Labour Leader Wouter Bos served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance while Social Christian Leader André Rouvoet served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without Portfolio for Health, Welfare and Sport.
Berend "Bert" de Vries is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 9 June 2010. This was triggered by the fall of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's fourth cabinet on 20 February with Queen Beatrix accepting the resignation of the Labour Party (PvdA) ministers on 23 February. The conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), led by Mark Rutte, won the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives while the social-democratic PvdA, led by Job Cohen, came a narrow second. The election was also noted for the rise of the Party for Freedom (PVV), which came third, led by controversial politician Geert Wilders. On the other hand, Balkenende's Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) saw a poor result, losing half its seats and dropping from first to fourth place. The Socialist Party (SP) also lost seats. Notably, the 31 seats won by the VVD was its most since 1998, and the one-seat margin between the VVD and PvdA is the closest on record.
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 Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal is the most senior politician within the Christian Democratic Appeal in the Netherlands.The current leader has been Wopke Hoekstra since 10 December 2020.
Netherlands 
Lieutenant 
