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 populist, anti-immigration and criticism of Islam and Euroscepticism (EU), and for his relations to the Kremlin. 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, after the 2023 Dutch general election. On 2 August 2022 he became the longest-serving Prime Minister in the history of the Netherlands.
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).
Martin Bosma is a Dutch politician and former journalist who has served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives since 14 December 2023. He entered the House of Representatives for the Party for Freedom (PVV) on 30 November 2006, and served as his party's spokesperson on matters of higher education, mass media and culture. He also served as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2010 until 2023. On 14 December 2023, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.
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.
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 Party for Freedom is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Since the early 2020s, the party has rapidly grown in popularity, gaining significant support for its anti-immigration positions. After the 2023 general elections, it became the largest party in the House of Representatives.
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.
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.
Democratic Political Turning Point was a political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded by Hero Brinkman, an independent member of the House of Representatives, formerly a member of the Party for Freedom (PVV). After Brinkman left the Party for Freedom he founded the Independent Citizens' Party (OBP). On 9 June 2012, Brinkman announced that the Independent Citizens' Party was merging with the Proud of the Netherlands (TON) party to form a new party: Democratic Political Turning Point. The party participated in the Dutch general election of 2012, but did not win any seats. On 18 November 2012, TON reversed the merger and parted ways with Brinkman.
VoorNederland was a Dutch political party. It was previously active in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands as the Group Bontes/Van Klaveren, a parliamentary group founded in April 2014. The parliamentary group was succeeded by a political party in May 2014. After failing to garner win a single seat in the 2017 general election the party disbanded.
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.
The third Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 26 October 2017 until 10 January 2022. It was formed by a coalition government of the political parties People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Democrats 66 (D66) and Christian Union (CU) after the general election of 2017.
Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2023 to elect the members of the House of Representatives. The elections had been expected to be held in 2025 but a snap election was called after the fourth Rutte cabinet collapsed on 7 July 2023 due to immigration policy disagreements between the coalition parties. The incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that he would not lead his party into the election and that he would retire from politics.
Belang van Nederland is a political party in the Netherlands, led by Wybren van Haga. Between 2021 and 2023, it was active in the House of Representatives as the independent Van Haga Group. Its three MPs split from Forum for Democracy in August 2021.
Anti-fascist research group Kafka, commonly abbreviated to Kafka, is a Dutch anti-fascist and far-left research group, founded by Hans van Drunen. Its name was said to be an acronym for Kollektief Anti-Fascistisch/-Kapitalistisch Archief before 1994, but the research group has since indicated that they had named themselves after the writer Franz Kafka.
