1971 Dutch general election

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 28 April 1971.[1] The Labour Party (PvdA) emerged as the largest party, winning 39 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.[2] The elections were the first without compulsory voting, causing a sharp fall in voter turnout, down to 79.1% from 94.9% in the 1967 elections.[3] Barend Biesheuvel of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) became Prime Minister, leading the first Biesheuvel cabinet.

1971 Dutch general election

28 April 1971
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	79.1% ( 15.8 pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/– PvdA Joop den Uyl 24.6% 39 +2 KVP Gerard Veringa 21.8% 35 -7 VVD Molly Geertsema 10.3% 16 -1 ARP Barend Biesheuvel 8.6% 13 -2 D66 Hans van Mierlo 6.8% 11 +4 CHU Bé Udink 6.3% 10 -2 DS'70 Willem Drees Jr. 5.3% 8 New CPN Marcus Bakker 3.9% 6 +1 SGP Hette Abma 2.3% 3 0 PPR Jacques Aarden 1.8% 2 New GPV Piet Jongeling 1.6% 2 +1 NMP Albert te Pas 1.5% 2 New PSP Hans Wiebenga 1.4% 2 -2 BP Hendrik Koekoek 1.1% 1 -6 Seats Cabinet before Cabinet after De Jong cabinet KVP–VVD–ARP–CHU First Biesheuvel cabinet KVP–VVD–ARP–CHU–DS70

His cabinet contained a broad coalition of parties, with ministers from ARP, Christian Historical Union (both Protestant), the Catholic People's Party, the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and moderate socialist Democratic Socialists '70 (DS'70), which had just split off from the PvdA.

However, Biesheuvel's government was short-lived; following a decision to cut government spending, DS'70 withdrew from the government, causing it to lose its majority and fresh elections to be held after just a year and seven months.