1981 Dutch general election

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 26 May 1981.[1][2] The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) emerged as the largest party, winning 48 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.[3]

1981 Dutch general election
Netherlands
26 May 1981
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives
76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout87.0% (Decrease 1.1 pp)
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
CDA Dries van Agt 30.8% 48 -1
PvdA Joop den Uyl 28.3% 44 -9
VVD Hans Wiegel 17.3% 26 -2
D66 Jan Terlouw 11.1% 17 +9
PSP Fred van der Spek 2.1% 3 +2
CPN Marcus Bakker 2.1% 3 +1
SGP Henk van Rossum 2.0% 3 0
PPR Ria Beckers 2.0% 3 0
RPF Meindert Leerling 1.2% 2 +2
GPV Gert Schutte 0.8% 1 0
Cabinet before Cabinet after
First Van Agt cabinet
CDA–VVD		 Second Van Agt cabinet
CDA–PvdA–D66

The incumbent Christian Democratic Appeal-People's Party for Freedom and Democracy coalition lost its overall majority leading to a new coalition being formed between the CDA, the Labour Party (PvdA) and Democrats 66, with the CDA's Dries van Agt continuing as Prime Minister. However due to disagreements between the CDA and PvdA on government spending the coalition collapsed after just a year, leading to fresh elections.

Results
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Christian Democratic Appeal2,677,25930.8148–1
Labour Party2,458,45228.2944–9
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy1,505,31117.3226–2
Democrats 66961,12111.0617+9
Pacifist Socialist Party184,4222.123+2
Communist Party of the Netherlands178,2922.053+1
Reformed Political Party171,3241.9730
Political Party of Radicals171,0421.9730
Reformatory Political Federation108,3641.252+2
Reformed Political League70,8780.8210
Democratic Socialists '7048,5680.560–1
Evangelical People's Party45,1890.520New
Socialist Party30,3800.3500
Roman Catholic Party of the Netherlands20,8120.2400
Rightist People's Party17,3710.200–1
Centre Party12,2420.140New
Dutch People's Union10,6410.1200
Liveable Netherlands8,3360.100New
Survive Together or Die3,3770.040New
Realists '812,0800.020New
International Communist League1,8140.020New
God with Us9180.010New
Wereld Welzijn Bewustwording8910.010New
Party for the Liquidation of the Netherlands8260.010New
The Peace Party4640.010New
Partij Van Rijksgenoten2070.000New
Small Party1860.000New
Dutch Evolution Party700.000New
Total8,690,837100.001500
Valid votes8,690,83799.46
Invalid/blank votes47,4010.54
Total votes8,738,238100.00
Registered voters/turnout10,040,12187.03
Source: Kiesraad

By province
Results by province[4]
Province CDA PvdA VVD D'66 PSP CPN SGP PPR RPF GPV Others
 Drenthe 24.8 38.6 17.8 9.3 1.3 1.3 0.3 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.9
 Friesland 33.2 33.2 12.7 9.5 1.7 1.7 0.8 1.8 2.1 1.4 1.9
 Gelderland 34.4 26.1 16.6 10.2 2.1 0.8 3.4 2.1 1.7 0.5 2.1
 Groningen 21.4 39.3 13.4 8.8 2.6 4.1 0.2 2.2 1.7 3.7 2.6
 Limburg 43.4 25.3 12.6 11.2 1.6 1.1 0.1 1.9 0.1 0.1 2.6
 North Brabant 42.7 23.6 14.5 11.2 1.9 0.9 0.5 1.9 0.3 0.1 2.4
 North Holland 22.7 28.4 21.3 12.4 3.5 5.3 0.4 2.4 0.8 0.3 2.5
 Overijssel 37.8 26.8 13.2 9.2 1.2 1.1 2.8 1.5 2.4 2.1 1.9
 South Holland 23.7 31.2 19.8 12.0 1.9 1.9 3.5 1.7 1.8 1.6 0.9
 Southern IJsselmeer Polders 20.8 30.8 18.9 14.6 1.7 4.6 0.6 2.4 1.5 1.0 3.1
 Utrecht 28.9 22.6 21.9 11.4 2.5 1.4 3.0 2.5 1.8 1.4 2.6
 Zeeland 29.5 27.2 17.0 9.9 1.1 0.7 8.0 1.8 1.9 1.2 1.7

References
  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1396 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. van Mierlo, Hans J. G. A. (1981). "The 1981 Netherlands election". West European Politics. 4 (3): 297–301. doi:10.1080/01402388108424339. ISSN 0140-2382.
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1414
  4. "Tweede Kamer 26 mei 1981". Kiesraad (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 November 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.