Dutch general election, 1959

Dutch general election, 1959

12 March 1959
All 150 seats to the House of Representatives 76 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	95.6%
First party Second party Third party   Jan de Quay Jaap Burger Leader Jan de Quay Jaap Burger Pieter Oud Party KVP PvdA VVD Leader since 1959 1952 1948 Last election 49 seats, 31.7% 50 seats, 32.7% 13 seats, 8.8% Seats won 49 48 19 Seat change 2 6 Popular vote 1,895,914 1,821,285 732,658 Percentage 31.6% 30.4% 12.2%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jelle Zijlstra Henk Beernink Paul de Groot Party ARP CHU CPN Leader since 1956 1959 1946 Last election 15 seats, 9.9% 13 seats, 8.4% 7 seats, 4.7% Seats won 14 12 3 Seat change 1 1 4 Popular vote 563,091 486,429 144,542 Percentage 9.4% 8.1% 2.4%   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Pieter Zandt Henk Lankhorst Nico van der Veen Party SGP PSP Leader since 1945 1959 Last election 3 seats, 2.3% First Election Seats won 3 2 Seat change 2 Popular vote 129,678 110,499 Percentage 2.2% 1.8%
250px Seats
Prime Minister before election Louis Beel KVP Prime Minister Jan de Quay KVP

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 12 March 1959. The Catholic People's Party emerged as the largest party, winning 49 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Catholic People's Party	1,895,914	31.6	49	0
Labour Party	1,821,285	30.4	48	–2
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	732,658	12.2	19	+6
Anti Revolutionary Party	563,091	9.4	14	–1
Christian Historical Union	486,429	8.1	12	–1
Communist Party of the Netherlands	144,542	2.4	3	–4
Reformed Political Party	129,678	2.2	3	0
Pacifist Socialist Party	110,499	1.8	2	New
Farmers' Party/Party for Agriculture and the Middle Class	115,435	2.0	0	New
Reformed Political League			0	0
Brug Group			0	New
Positive Christian National Union			0	New
Invalid/blank votes	143,878	–	–	–
Total	6,143,409	100	150	0
Registered voters/turnout	6,427,864	95.6	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular Vote
KVP			31.60%
PvdA			30.36%
VVD			12.21%
ARP			9.39%
CHU			8.11%
CPN			2.41%
SGP			2.16%
PSP			1.84%
GPV			0.67%
BP/PLM			0.66%
Other			0.60%