Dutch general election, 2010

Dutch general election, 2010

9 June 2010 (2010-06-09)
All 150 seats to the House of Representatives 76 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	75.4%
First party Second party Third party   Mark Rutte Leader Mark Rutte Job Cohen Geert Wilders Party VVD PvdA PVV Leader since 2006 2010 2006 Last election 22 seats, 14.7% 33 seats, 21.2% 9 seats, 5.9% Seats won 31 30 24 Seat change 9 3 15 Popular vote 1,929,575 1,848,805 1,454,493 Percentage 20.5% 19.6% 15.4%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jan Peter Balkenende Emile Roemer Alexander Pechtold Party CDA SP D66 Leader since 2001 2010 2006 Last election 41 seats, 26.5% 25 seats, 16.6% 3 seats, 2.0% Seats won 21 15 10 Seat change 20 10 7 Popular vote 1,281,886 924,696 654,167 Percentage 13.6% 9.8% 6.9%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Femke Halsema André Rouvoet Kees van der Staaij Party GL CU SGP Leader since 2002 2002 2010 Last election 7 seats, 4.6% 6 seats, 4.0% 2 seats, 1.6% Seats won 10 5 2 Seat change 3 1 0 Popular vote 628,096 305,094 163,581 Percentage 6.7% 3.2% 1.7%
Prime Minister before election Jan Peter Balkenende CDA Elected Prime Minister Mark Rutte VVD

The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. It 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 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 Labour Party (PvdA), led by Job Cohen, came a narrow second. It was also noted for the rise of the controversial politician Geert Wilders and the Party for Freedom (PVV), which came in third. On the other hand, the election was a poor result for Balkenende and his Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which lost half its seats and dropped from first to fourth place. The Socialist Party (SP) also lost seats. Notably, the 31 seats won by the VVD is the fewest in years, and the one-seat margin between the VVD and PvdA is the closest on record.

After the election, it took 127 days to form a new government, with both the VVD and PvdA hoping to have a leading role. Talks with the PvdA and other left-wing parties (trying to form a so-called Purple Coalition without Christian parties) broke down and Rutte was able to form a right-wing coalition of the VVD and CDA, with the PVV formally making an agreement (gedoogakkoord) to support the government but without holding any cabinet seats. It was the first coalition government not to be led by a Christian democratic or socialist party in 92 years, as well as the first to be led by the VVD. Rutte was sworn in as Prime Minister on 14 October, becoming the first liberal to hold that post since 1918.

The 150 seats of the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal) were contested, and were filled using party-list proportional representation for a nominal four-year term.

Background

The election follows the PvdA's withdrawal in February from the coalition over the contribution of Dutch soldiers to the War in Afghanistan. According to the Dutch constitution new elections had to be held within 83 days.

Debates

The first radio debate was held on 21 May 2010. The first television debate, held on 23 May was, according to instant polls, won by Mark Rutte on 36%, with Job Cohen second on 24%, and Geert Wilders and Jan Peter Balkenende third, on 18%.

Polls

Party	2006		Politieke Barometer		Peil.nl		TNS-NIPO
	%	Seats (150)	8-6-2010	Exit polls (21.00 hrs)	7-6-2010	Exit polls	31-5-2010	Exit polls
CDA	26.5	41	24	21	25	24	21	21
PvdA	21.2	33	30	31	30	30	31	29
SP	16.6	25	14	15	12	13	13	15
VVD	14.7	22	33	31	36	34	37	36
PVV	5.9	9	17	23	18	18	17	18
GL	4.6	7	11	11	10	11	8	10
CU	4.0	6	6	5	6	6	9	6
D66	2.0	3	10	10	10	11	10	11
PvdD	1.8	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
SGP	1.6	2	3	2	2	2	3	2
ToN/Trots*	–	–	0	0	0	0	0	1
Others	1.2	0	0	0	0	0	–	–
* Trots op Nederland is the party formed by Rita Verdonk after she split from the VVD in 2007 and became an independent representative.

Polls indicated that the elections were too close to call.

Results

Turnout was reported to be over 5% less than the previous elections due to heavy rain and stormy weather.

National summary

 Summary of the 9 June 2010 Dutch House of Representatives election results

Party	Political Ideology	Lijsttrekker	Votes	Seats	+/-	Vote %	Seat %
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD)	Conservative liberalism	Mark Rutte	1,929,575	31	+9	20.5	20.7
Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA)	Social democracy	Job Cohen	1,848,805	30	-3	19.6	20.0
Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV)	Conservative liberalism/National conservatism/Right-wing populism	Geert Wilders	1,454,493	24	+15	15.4	16.0
Christian Democratic Appeal (Christen-Democratisch Appèl, CDA)	Christian democracy	Jan Peter Balkenende	1,281,886	21	-20	13.6	14.0
Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij, SP)	Democratic socialism	Emile Roemer	924,696	15	-10	9.8	10.0
Democrats 66 (Democraten 66, D66)	Social liberalism	Alexander Pechtold	654,167	10	+7	6.9	6.7
GreenLeft (GroenLinks, GL)	Green Politics/Progressivism/Activism	Femke Halsema	628,096	10	+3	6.7	6.7
Christian Union (ChristenUnie, CU)	Christian democracy/Social Christian	André Rouvoet	305,094	5	-1	3.2	3.3
Reformed Political Party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP)	Christian right/Social conservatism	Kees van der Staaij	163,581	2	+0	1.7	1.3
Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD)	Animal welfare/Animal rights	Marianne Thieme	122,317	2	+0	1.3	1.3
Proud of the Netherlands (Trots Op Nederland, Trots)	Liberal conservatism/National conservatism/Cultural conservatism	Rita Verdonk	52,937	0	+0	0.6	0.0
Party for Human and Spirit (Partij voor Mens en Spirit, MenS)	Spiritual politics	Lea Manders	26,196	0	+0	0.3	0.0
Pirate Party (Piratenpartij)	IP reform, Civil rights, Govt. transparency	Samir Allioui	10,471	0	+0	0.1	0.0
Empty list (List 17 / Feijen List) (Lijst 17 / Lijst Feijen)	Youth rights	Lot Feijen	7,456	0	+0	0.1	0.0
Partij één		Yesim Candan	2,042	0	+0	<0.1	0.0
New Netherlands (Nieuw Nederland)		Jan-Frank Koers	2,010	0	+0	<0.1	0.0
Heel NL		Daisha de Wijs	1,255	0	+0	<0.1	0.0
Empty list (Evangelical Party Netherlands / Laclé List) (Evangelische Partij Nederland / Lijst Laclé)	Evangelicalism	Yvette Laclé	924	0	+0	<0.1	0.0
Total			9,416,001	150	0	100.0	100.0
Invalid / Blank			26,976	–	–	0.3	–
Turnout			9,442,977	–	–	75.4	–
Source: Verkiezingsuitslagen, Kerngegevens Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2010. Nederlandse Kiesraad. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2012. ^a Evangelical Party Netherlands did not register before the deadline and thus participates as an Empty list.

Popular Vote
VVD			20.49%
PvdA			19.63%
PVV			15.45%
CDA			13.61%
SP			9.82%
D66			6.95%
GL			6.67%
CU			3.24%
SGP			1.74%
PvdD			1.30%
Other			1.10%

Reaction

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende stepped down from his position in the CDA and resigned his parliamentary seat on the evening of the election, saying he was taking "political responsibility" for the unsatisfactory election results of his party and that "The voter has spoken, the outcome is clear."

Government formation

Expectations were that the formation of a new government would take some time. The international media also read this as a slim victory for the "austerity-minded" Liberals amidst the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis.

On 14 October, Mark Rutte was sworn in as prime minister. Rutte's government resigned on 24 April 2012 over austerity measures.

Analysis

Some international media speculated that "for the first time in this nation's history, a Jewish man, albeit a secular one, is on the verge of becoming the next prime minister ... Job Cohen, who was until recently the Mayor of Amsterdam, and represents the top of the ticket for the PvdA ... is at the end of a long battle to run the country that began in February when the PvdA backed out of the ruling coalition government because it did not want to send Dutch troops back to Afghanistan."

See also

• List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2010–12

External links

• NSD: European Election Database - Netherlands publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1994–2010