| Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| European Parliament constituency | |
 Location among the current constituencies | |
| Member state | Netherlands |
| Created | 1979 |
| MEPs |
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| Sources | |
The Netherlands is a European Parliament constituency for elections in the European Union covering the member state of Netherlands. It is currently represented by 31 Members of the European Parliament. Until the 2009 European Parliament election, it excluded the Dutch in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
| Year | Electorate | Votes | Turnout | Blank votes | Invalid votes | % | Valid | % | Lists | Combined lists | Electoral alliances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 9,808,176 | 5,700,603 | 58.12% | 33,300 | 0.59% | 5,667,303 | 99.41% | 10 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 10,485,014 | 5,334,582 | 50.88% | 37,833 | 0.71% | 5,296,749 | 99.29% | 9 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1989 | 11,099,123 | 5,270,374 | 47.48% | 28,041 | 0.53% | 5,242,333 | 99.47% | 10 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1994 | 11,618,677 | 4,146,730 | 35.69% | 13,173 | 0.32% | 4,133,557 | 99.68% | 11 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 11,862,864 | 3,560,764 | 30.02% | 16,356 | 0.46% | 3,544,408 | 99.54% | 11 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 12,168,878 | 4,777,121 | 39.26% | 11,444 | 0.24% | 4,765,677 | 99.76% | 15 | 1 | 3 | |
| 2009 | 12,445,497 | 4,573,743 | 36.75% | 10,013 | 9,866 | 0.44% | 4,553,864 | 99.56% | 17 | 1 | 3 |
| 2014 | 12,815,496 | 4,782,251 | 37.32% | 16,786 | 11,719 | 0.60% | 4,753,746 | 99.40% | 19 | 1 | 2 |
| 2019 | 13,164,688 | 5,519,776 | 41.93% | 10,267 | 11,696 | 0.40% | 5,497,813 | 99.60% | 16 | 2 | NA |
| 2024 | 13,542,363 | 6,253,467 | 46.18% | 9,662 | 11,607 | 0.34% | 6,232,198 | 99.66% | 20 | 2 | NA |
| List | Election year | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 1984 | 1989 | 1994 | 1999 | 2004 | 2009 | 2014 | 2019 | 2024 | ||
| Christian Democratic Appeal | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | |
| Labour Party | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 6 | ||
| GroenLinks | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |||||
| GroenLinks–PvdA | 8 | ||||||||||
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | |
| Democrats 66 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | ||
| C.P.N. Green Party Netherlands P.P.R. P.S.P. | 2 | ||||||||||
| Rainbow (ppr-psp-cpn-evp-gpn-indep.) | 2 | ||||||||||
| SGP, GPV and RPF | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| Christian Union – Reformed Political Party | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Reformed Political Party | 1 | ||||||||||
| Socialist Party | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Europe Transparent | 2 | ||||||||||
| Party for Freedom | 4 | 4 | 6 | ||||||||
| Party for the Animals | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| 50PLUS | 1 | ||||||||||
| Forum for Democracy | 3 | ||||||||||
| Farmer–Citizen Movement | 2 | ||||||||||
| Volt Netherlands | 2 | ||||||||||
| New Social Contract | 1 | ||||||||||
| Total | 25 | 25 | 25 | 31 | 31 | 27 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 31 | |
The 1979 European election was the first direct election to the European Parliament to be held and hence the first time the Netherlands had voted. Four parties won seats: the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the progressive liberal Democrats 66 (D66), the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the social-democratic Labour Party. Five other nationally represented parties competed but won no seats. 58.1% of the Dutch population turned out on election day.
The 1984 European election was the second election to the European Parliament and the second for the Netherlands. In these elections two alliances formed successful common lists:
The progressive liberal Democrats 66 (D66) lost its two seats and disappeared from the parliament. 50.9% of the Dutch population turned out.
The 1989 European election was the third election to the European Parliament and the third for the Netherlands. The conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) lost seats to the progressive liberal Democrats 66 (D66), which returned to the European parliament after a five-year absence. 47.5% of the electorate turned out.
The 1994 European election was the fourth election to the European Parliament and the fourth for the Netherlands. The liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Democrats 66 (D66) parties and the orthodox Protestant alliance of Political Reformed Party, Reformatory Political Federation and Reformed Political Alliance profited from the increase in the number of seats. While the Christian Democratic Appeal and the Labour Party lost a considerable number of votes, but remained stable in terms of seats. 35.7% of Dutch voters turned out on election day.
The 1999 European election was the fifth election to the European Parliament and the fifth for the Netherlands. With only 30 percent of the population showing up, the voter turnout hit an all-time low for Dutch elections on the national level. In the election, GreenLeft performed particularly well quadrupling their seats from one to four, the Socialist Party also won its first seat. These gains were made at the cost of the Christian Democratic Appeal, Democrats 66 and the Labour Party, which lost one, two and two seats respectively.
The 2004 European election was the sixth election to the European Parliament and the sixth for the Netherlands. The election was held on 10 June 2004. The ruling centre-right parties, the Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy polled poorly, while the opposition Labour Party and Socialist Party gained ground. The anti-fraud party Europe Transparent of whistle blower Paul van Buitenen unexpectedly won two seats.
The 2009 European election was the seventh election to the European Parliament and the seventh for the Netherlands.
The 2014 European election was the eighth election to the European Parliament and the eighth for the Netherlands. The Christian Democratic Appeal won the most seats and was seen as the winner of the 2014 elections, but was overtaken by Democrats 66 in terms of numbers of votes. The Christian Democratic Appeal won an extra seat thanks to their electoral alliance with Christian Union – Reformed Political Party (Christian Union-SGP). The eurosceptic Party for Freedom (PVV) was the biggest loser, although it only lost 1 seat. In contrast to other European countries, the eurosceptic movement did worse than in previous elections.
The 2019 European election was the ninth election to the European Parliament and the ninth for the Netherlands.
The 2024 European election was the tenth overall and in the Netherlands, and it was held on 6 June. The Labour Party and GroenLinks participated with the combined GroenLinks–PvdA list and received a plurality of 8 seats or 21% of the vote. The Party for Freedom, which had not won any seats in the previous election, came in second with 6 seats or 17% of the vote. The Farmer–Citizen Movement, Volt Netherlands, and New Social Contract secured European Parliament seats for the first time, while the Christian Union, Forum for Democracy, and 50PLUS lost their representation. Voter turnout rose to 46.2%. [1] [2] [3]
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 positions itself 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).
An election of Members of the European Parliament representing Netherlands constituency for the 2004–2009 term of the European Parliament was held on 10 June 2004. It was part of the wider 2004 European election. Fifteen parties competed in a D'Hondt type election for 27 seats..
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 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).
The Political Party of Radicals was a Christian-radical and green political party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to form GroenLinks in 1991.
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.
An election of Members of the European Parliament representing Netherlands constituency took place on 4 June 2009. Seventeen parties competed in a D'Hondt type election for the available 25 seats. For the first time, all Dutch residents of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba were also entitled to vote in the election.
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.
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).
General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives.
An election of the Members of the European Parliament from the Netherlands was held on 22 May 2014. This is the 8th time the elections have been held for the European elections in the Netherlands.
General elections were held in the Netherlands from 15 to 17 March 2021 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. Following the elections and lengthy coalition formation talks, the sitting government remained in power.
Municipal elections were held on 21 March 2018 in 335 municipalities in the Netherlands. This election determined the composition of the municipal councils for the following four years. The election coincided with the Intelligence and Security Services Act referendum.
An election of the Members of the European Parliament from the Netherlands was held on 23 May 2019. It was the ninth time such an election had been held in the Netherlands. The number of Dutch seats had been set to increase from 26 to 29 following Brexit, but due to the extension of the Article 50 process in the United Kingdom, the number of seats to be elected remained at 26.
The 2024 European Parliament election in the Netherlands was held on 6 June 2024 as part of the 2024 European Parliament election. It was the tenth time the elections have been held for the European elections in the Netherlands, and the first to take place after Brexit.
An election to the Dutch Senate was held on 30 May 2023. The 75 members of the Senate were elected by members of the provincial councils and electoral colleges elected two months earlier in provincial and electoral college elections.
  European Parliament, Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| Delegations | |
| Elections | |
| Current parties | |
| Former parties | |