2002 Dutch general election
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All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 79.06% ( 5.71pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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General elections were held in the Netherlands on 15 May 2002.[1] The elections were amongst the most dramatic in Dutch history,[2] not just in terms of the electoral results, as they were completely overshadowed by the assassination of leader Pim Fortuyn only nine days before election day.
Fortuyn had led the
Two months after the election Jan Peter Balkenende formed his first cabinet, with a coalition of the CDA, the LPF and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). However, the LPF was unstable due to its lack of strong leadership and its members' lack of experience; this resulted in the new cabinet resigning before the end of the year.
Background
Prime Minister Wim Kok had been in power since the 1994 general election in a coalition between his Labour Party (PvdA), the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Democrats 66 (D66). The government, which won a second term in the 1998 general election, was often referred to as a 'purple' coalition due to the participation of the 'red' Labour Party and the 'blue' VVD. During its time in power, the government had often enjoyed high approval ratings and presided over a strong economy.[3] They had also introduced innovative social legislation, such as the introduction of same-sex marriage and euthanasia. Kok announced in December 2001 that he would retire from the premiership at the next election. Ad Melkert then replaced Kok as the party leader. The Christian Democratic Appeal, the largest opposition party, was led by newly elected leader Jan Peter Balkenende. Balkenende was at the time considered to be an interim leader who lacked charisma or experience, but his campaign would ultimately prove relatively successful.[4]
Campaign
At the start of the year, Melkert and the VVD leader
In the 2002 municipal elections, held on 6 March, Liveable Rotterdam took 35% of the vote in the city of Rotterdam, a city with a high immigrant population. They formed the city's first non-Labour government since the Second World War. In the same month, he released the book De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars (The Wreckage of eight purple years) criticising the record of the governing coalition. The Economist described the rise in support for Fortuyn as a shock for the Dutch political establishment and their traditional system of consensus.[6]
The government resigned on 16 April - only a month before polling day - after the
On 6 May, Fortuyn was assassinated in Hilversum by Volkert van der Graaf. Months later, Van der Graaf stated his motivation was his belief that Fortuyn was exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak members of society" in seeking political power.[8] The murder was a shock to the Netherlands; it was denounced by Kok and other Dutch politicians and other national leaders. It was the country's first political assassination in modern times.[9]
Opinion polls
Polling firm | Date | PvdA | VVD | CDA | D66 | GL | SP | CU | SGP | LPF | LN | VSP | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Interview/NSS | 14 May 2002 | 26 | 25 | 35 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
NIPO | 13 May 2002 | 25 | 25 | 31 | 8 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
NIPO | 1 May 2002 | 30 | 24 | 29 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 26 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
Interview/NSS | 2 Mar 2002 | 34 | 28 | 31 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 3 |
Interview/NSS | 6 Oct 2001 | 45 | 41 | 26 | 6 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 4 | – | 3 | – | 4 |
1998 election | 6 May 1998 | 45 | 38 | 29 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | 7 |
Result
The great losers of the election were Labour Party, People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Democrats 66, the coalition parties of the 'purple' cabinets. Especially the Labour Party under the technocratic leadership of Ad Melkert suffered a landslide defeat.
The
Fortuyn's former party Livable Netherlands also contested the election. While they had been overshadowed by Fortuyn, they also entered the House of Representatives, winning 2 seats.
The 15 May 2002 election was the beginning of a year of political
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christian Democratic Appeal | 2,653,723 | 27.93 | 43 | +14 | |
Pim Fortuyn List | 1,614,801 | 17.00 | 26 | New | |
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 1,466,722 | 15.44 | 24 | –14 | |
Labour Party | 1,436,023 | 15.11 | 23 | –22 | |
GroenLinks | 660,692 | 6.95 | 10 | –1 | |
Socialist Party | 560,447 | 5.90 | 9 | +4 | |
Democrats 66 | 484,317 | 5.10 | 7 | –7 | |
Christian Union | 240,953 | 2.54 | 4 | –1 | |
Reformed Political Party | 163,562 | 1.72 | 2 | –1 | |
Livable Netherlands | 153,055 | 1.61 | 2 | New | |
Free Indian Party and Elderly Union | 39,005 | 0.41 | 0 | New | |
United Seniors Party | 10,033 | 0.11 | 0 | New | |
Durable Netherlands | 9,058 | 0.10 | 0 | New | |
Party of the Future | 6,393 | 0.07 | 0 | New | |
New Middle Party | 2,305 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
Republican People's Party | 63 | 0.00 | 0 | New | |
Total | 9,501,152 | 100.00 | 150 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 9,501,152 | 99.85 | |||
Invalid/blank votes | 14,074 | 0.15 | |||
Total votes | 9,515,226 | 100.00 | |||
Registered voters/turnout | 12,035,935 | 79.06 | |||
Source: Kiesraad |
By province
Province | CDA | LPF | VVD | PvdA | GL | SP | D66 | CU | SGP | LN | Others |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drenthe | 26.0 | 12.3 | 16.1 | 23.8 | 6.2 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 3.4 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.6 |
Flevoland | 23.6 | 19.3 | 17.2 | 13.7 | 6.7 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 4.5 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 0.7 |
Friesland
|
33.1 | 12.3 | 12.3 | 19.7 | 6.6 | 5.6 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.4 |
Gelderland | 30.7 | 13.9 | 14.8 | 15.2 | 7.1 | 5.4 | 4.8 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 0.4 |
Groningen | 22.2 | 12.2 | 12.8 | 23.9 | 8.9 | 6.9 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.6 |
Limburg | 36.7 | 19.0 | 12.3 | 12.4 | 6.8 | 5.8 | 4.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 0.7 |
North Brabant | 32.5 | 17.6 | 15.9 | 11.8 | 6.4 | 7.1 | 5.0 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 1.0 |
North Holland | 20.6 | 17.6 | 18.2 | 16.5 | 8.7 | 7.3 | 6.5 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 1.1 |
Overijssel | 36.9 | 11.2 | 12.1 | 15.7 | 5.9 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 0.5 |
South Holland | 24.0 | 22.3 | 15.8 | 14.3 | 5.9 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 0.6 |
Utrecht | 25.9 | 15.2 | 17.4 | 13.1 | 8.4 | 6.0 | 5.9 | 3.7 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 0.5 |
Zeeland | 29.6 | 15.6 | 14.0 | 13.2 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 8.1 | 1.5 | 0.7 |
References
- ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ^ Simons, Marlise (2002-05-08). "Elections to Proceed in the Netherlands, Despite Killing". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
- ^ Once-Struggling Dutch Economy No Longer in the Nether Land
- ^ Dutch Harry Potter on the way up
- ISBN 90-229-8338-2
- ^ Ad Melkert, meet Pim Fortuyn
- ^ Dutch government quits over Srebenica
- ^ Fortuyn killed 'to protect Muslims', The Daily Telegraph, 28 March 2003:[van der Graaf] said his goal was to stop Fortuyn exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak parts of society to score points" to try to gain political power.
- ^ "Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn assassinated". The Guardian. 2002-05-06. Archived from the original on 2023-04-15.
- ^ "Tweede Kamer 15 mei 2002". Kiesraad (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 November 2021.
Further reading
- Van Holsteyn, Joop J. M.; Galen A. Irwin (April 2003). "Never a dull moment: Pim Fortuyn and the Dutch parliamentary election of 2002". .