| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Staten-Generaal / States General |
| Structure of parliament |
Bicameral |
| Chamber name (generic / translated) |
Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal / House of Representatives |
| Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments) |
Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal / Senate
|
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
9 June 2010 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for all seats in the House of Representatives following the publication of the Royal Decree of 18 March 2010 calling for early elections. Elections to the House of Representatives had previously taken place on 22 November 2006. |
The June 2010 elections followed the collapse of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's fourth coalition government in February 2010.
In the previous elections (November 2006)
neither the right nor the left won a clear majority. Prime Minister Balkenende's Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) remained the largest party
winning 41 of the 150 seats at stake. The pro-business People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) took 22 seats. The VVD's breakaway Party for Freedom (GW/PvdV)
led by Mr. Geert Wilders
took nine seats. The main left-wing opposition
the Labour Party (PvdA)
remained the second largest party with 33 seats
followed by the Socialist Party (SP) with 25 seats. The Green Left won seven seats while the centre-left Christian Union took six.
After lengthy negotiations
Mr. Balkenende formed his fourth coalition government in February 2007. It comprised the CDA
the PvdA
the Christian Union and the Democrats 66 (D66
a centrist party that had taken three seats).
Mr. Balkenende first came to power in 2002 but his three previous coalition governments had broken down before the end of the full four-year term. The three parties in his fourth government disagreed on major issues
including pension reform and public spending in the wake of the economic downturn.
Disagreement over continuing the Dutch military involvement in Afghanistan was the immediate cause of the collapse of the coalition. In 2006 the Netherlands supplied a contingent for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mission in Afghanistan. The initial engagement was to end by 2008 but the mission was extended since no other NATO members had sent troops to replace the Dutch contingent. Amid growing unpopularity
the House of Representatives voted in October 2009 to withdraw all 2
000 Dutch soldiers by August 2010.
However
NATO requested the Dutch government to extend the deployment beyond 2010 owing to insecurity in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Balkenende's CDA was in favour of the extension
but the PvdA of Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos was vehemently opposed. In February 2010
the PvdA announced it was withdrawing from the coalition government
triggering its collapse. Queen Beatrix subsequently asked the outgoing government to dissolve the House of Representatives with a view to holding early elections on 9 June. They were the fourth to be held since 2002.
Mr. Balkenende became caretaker Prime Minister. He pledged to introduce drastic economic reforms by forming a new government comprising the CDA
the VVD
the Green Left and the D66
an unprecedented composition.
Shortly before the 2010 elections
the country's Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis announced that 29 billion euros would have to be cut from public spending by 2015
prompting many parties to focus on the budget cuts during the election campaign. The parties on the left and the right presented conflicting austerity plans.
The leftist parties - the PvdA
the SP and the Green Left - promised to cut defence spending while increasing taxes for people with higher incomes. The PvdA promised to save about 10 billion euros by 2015. The leftist parties pledged fewer cuts than the parties on the right
arguing that too radical cuts would diminish people's spending power and increase unemployment
consequently threatening economic recovery.
The parties on the right - Mr. Mark Rutte's VVD
Mr. Wilders' PVV and Mr. Balkenende's CDA - pledged more spending cuts. The VVD pledged to save 20 billion euros through 2015 and an additional 10 billion euros by 2019 by cutting spending on the civil service and social security. The VVD and the CDA argued that the government needed to implement radical measures so as to prevent the country from going bankrupt. They insisted that interest-accruing loans that had been eating up a growing share of the government's budget had to be lowered. The VVD promised to halve the development cooperation budget (the equivalent of 0.8 percent of the country's gross national product)
while the PVV pledged to abolish it altogether. Only the CDA promised to maintain the cooperation budget at its current level.
The pre-election debate also focused on immigration. The VVD promised a reduction in benefits for immigrants while the PVV pledged to restrict immigration. In March 2010
the PVV made major gains in local elections
advocating a ban on Muslim headscarves in public places. The PvdA was reportedly drawing support from immigrants thanks to its new leader
Mr. Job Cohen
who had been popular among the immigrant community while serving as Amsterdam Mayor.
Pre-election opinion polls indicated a neck-and-neck race between the leftist PvdA and the VVD on the right. 75.40 per cent of the 12.5 million registered voters turned out at the polls.
As in the 2006 elections
no party secured a majority in 2010. The final results gave 31 seats to the VVD and 30 to the PvdA. The PVV came in third with 24 seats
while the CDA took 21 seats. In all
61 women (40.67%) were elected - up from 55 (36.67%) in 2006 - setting the highest percentage of women elected to the Dutch House of Representatives.
On 17 June
the newly elected House of Representatives held its first session. On 22 June
it re-elected Ms. Gerdi A. Verbeet (PvdA) as its Speaker.
After lengthy negotiations
on 29 September
the CDA - led by Mr. Maxime Verhagen - and the VVD agreed to form a coalition government
with parliamentary support from the PVV. On 14 October
Queen Beatrix sworn in the new minority government led by Mr. Rutte (VVD). He became the first VVD leader to assume the post since the party's inception in 1948. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 9 June 2010 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
12'524'152
9'442'977 (75.4%)
26'976
9'416'001 |
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of votes |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Candidates |
Votes |
|
|
% |
|
|
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) |
73 |
1'929'575 |
|
|
20.49 |
|
|
| Labour Party (PvdA) |
70 |
1'848'805 |
|
|
19.63 |
|
|
| Party for Freedom (PVV) |
48 |
1'454'493 |
|
|
15.45 |
|
|
| Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA) |
75 |
1'281'886 |
|
|
13.61 |
|
|
| Socialist Party (SP) |
50 |
924'696 |
|
|
9.82 |
|
|
| Green Left |
30 |
628'096 |
|
|
6.67 |
|
|
| Democrats 66 (D66) |
50 |
654'167 |
|
|
6.95 |
|
|
| Christian Union |
50 |
305'094 |
|
|
3.24 |
|
|
| Party for the Animals (PvdD) |
17 |
122'317 |
|
|
1.30 |
|
|
| Reformed Political Party (SGP) |
30 |
163'581 |
|
|
1.74 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
Gain/Loss |
Number of women |
|
|
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) |
31
|
9 |
13 |
|
|
| Labour Party (PvdA) |
30
|
-3 |
15 |
|
|
| Party for Freedom (PVV) |
24
|
15 |
4 |
|
|
| Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA) |
21
|
-20 |
9 |
|
|
| Socialist Party (SP) |
15
|
-10 |
5 |
|
|
| Green Left |
10
|
3 |
6 |
|
|
| Democrats 66 (D66) |
10
|
7 |
5 |
|
|
| Christian Union |
5
|
-1 |
2 |
|
|
| Party for the Animals (PvdD) |
2
|
0 |
2 |
|
|
| Reformed Political Party (SGP) |
2
|
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
89
61
40.67%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
21 to 30 years
31 to 40 years
41 to 50 years
51 to 60 years
61 to 70 years
|
8
44
53
37
8
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
| Civil service and local authority administration |
32 |
| Civil society activity |
30 |
| Entrepreneur |
26 |
| Finance
management or business |
19 |
| Journalism
broadcasting
media |
10 |
| Physician
dentist |
8 |
| Armed services/Police |
8 |
| Education profession |
6 |
| Political party official |
5 |
| IT/technology |
4 |
| Legal profession |
2 |
|
| Comments |
Sources:
http://www.kiesraad.nl
IPU Group of the Netherlands (17.06.2010
30.03.2011
12.12.2011) |
Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Last elections module
