Party for the Animals

The Party for the Animals (Dutch: Partij voor de Dieren; PvdD) is a political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare.[2]

Party for the Animals
Partij voor de Dieren
AbbreviationPvdD
LeaderEsther Ouwehand
ChairmanRuud van der Velden
Leader in the SenateNiko Koffeman
Leader in the House of RepresentativesEsther Ouwehand
Leader in the European ParliamentAnja Hazekamp
FoundersMarianne Thieme
Ton Dekker
Lieke Keller
Founded28 October 2002 (2002-10-28)
HeadquartersAmsterdam
Youth wingPINK!
Think tankNicolaas G. Pierson foundation
Membership (2022) 23,811[1]
IdeologyAnimal rights
Animal welfare[2]
Environmentalism[2]
Soft Euroscepticism[3]
Political positionLeft-wing[4]
European affiliationAnimal Politics EU
European Parliament groupThe Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
Colours  Dark green
Seats in the House of Representatives
6 / 150
Seats in the Senate
3 / 75
Seats in the States-Provincial
20 / 570
Seats in the European Parliament
1 / 29
King's Commissioners
0 / 12
Party flag
Website
www.partijvoordedieren.nl
www.partyfortheanimals.nl
www.pinkpolitiek.nl
  • Politics of the Netherlands
  • Political parties
  • Elections

Since 2019, the PvdD's political leader is Esther Ouwehand. With 3.8% of the votes at the 2021 general election, the PvdD holds six of the 150 House of Representatives's seats. In the Senate it has three of the 75 seats, and in the European Parliament it has one of the 26 seats allocated to the Netherlands constituency.

History

Founding

The Party for the Animals was founded on 28 October 2002 by Marianne Thieme, among others.[5] Although initially considered a testimonial party, a party which does not seek to gain political power but to testify its beliefs and thereby influence other parties, the party signaled its willingness to enter a coalition-government in 2021.[6][7] The party has not yet been part of a governing coalition at the national, provincial or local level.

In 2003 the PvdD competed in its first Tweede Kamer election. Founded only three months before the elections, the party competed in 18 of the 19 constituencies, missing ballot access in Overijssel due to a clerical error. The party won 47,665 votes, gaining 75% of the electoral threshold, but missing out on a seat.

Electoral breakthrough

The electoral breakthrough for the PvdD occurred at the 2004 European elections. The party won 3.22% of the votes (153.432 votes), not enough to win a seat, but a sharp improvement compared to their 2003 result. In 2006 the party won their first seats in the Tweede Kamer, with Marianne Thieme and Esther Ouwehand being elected to parliament. The party gained a lot of attention due to a number of prominent lijstduwers, such as Paul Cliteur, Maarten 't Hart, Kees van Kooten, Rudy Kousbroek, Georgina Verbaan and Jan Wolkers.

The Party won nine seats in eight provinces in the 2007 Dutch provincial elections, securing one seat in the Eerste Kamer. In 2010 the party won representation on the local councils of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Arnhem, Gouda, Vlagtwedde and Pijnacker-Nootdorp, which meant that the PvdD secured representation on every level of government in the Netherlands.

In consequent elections the electoral support for the PvdD remained relatively stable, winning two seats in the Tweede Kamer in 2010 and 2012. In 2014 the party won representation to the European parliament and joined the European United Left-Nordic Green Left parliamentary group.

In 2017 the party gained its best result to date, winning five seats in the Tweede Kamer. On 16 July 2019 Femke Merel van Kooten split from the PvdD caucus and continued as an independent member of parliament. The reason for the split was that Van Kooten criticized the narrow political focus of the party, which in her opinion focused too much on ecology and animal rights.[8]

Ouwehand leadership

On 8 October 2019, founder and longtime leader Marianne Thieme retired from the leadership and the Tweede Kamer. Esther Ouwehand succeeded Thieme as parliamentary leader, and Eva van Esch replaced her as a member of parliament. She was previously a city council woman in Utrecht.

Allied organisations

PINK!

PINK! is the youth wing of the PvdD.[9] It was established on 12 September 2006, and has slightly over 2,000 members (2021 figure).[10] The name is derived from the Dutch word for a cow that is older than a calf, but not yet fully mature.[11] The current chairperson, Xenia Minnaert, was elected in 2020.[12]

Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation

The Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation is the research department of the PvdD. Founded in 2007, it is named after Niek Pierson, a Dutch economist and an early political donor of the party.

Animal Politics EU

Initially founded as Euro Animal 7, Animal Politics EU is an informal grouping of animal rights based political parties within the European Union. Animal Politics EU has member parties in the Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Spain. The group currently has two MEPs: Martin Buschmann for the Tierschutzpartei and Anja Hazekamp of the PvdD.

Electorate

The electorate of the PvdD consists in majority of women (estimated at 70%) living in urban areas.[13] In 2017 the party achieved its best results in Amsterdam (6.02%), Bergen (5.78%), Haarlem (5.69%) and Zutphen (5.62%). The party has lowest support in rural areas, especially those with large agricultural industries, such as in the Bible belt.

The PvdD has the largest proportion of vegan/vegetarian voters of any political party in the Netherlands, with 17.3% or 27.9% of PvdD voters in saying in 2 surveys in 2021 that they did not eat meat. The party with the second-highest proportion of vegan/vegetarian voters in both surveys was GroenLinks, for which the share laid at 8.4% or 16.9%.[14][15][16]

Electoral results
Esther Ouwehand, Leader in the House of Representatives since 2019
Niko Koffeman, Leader in the Senate since 2007
Anja Hazekamp, Leader in the European Parliament since 2014

House of Representatives
Election Lijsttrekker Votes  % Seats +/– Government
2003 Marianne Thieme 47,754 0.49 (#10)
0 / 150
 New Opposition
2006 179,988 1.83 (#9)
2 / 150
 2 Opposition
2010 122,317 1.30 (#10)
2 / 150
 Opposition
2012 182,162 1.93 (#9)
2 / 150
 Opposition
2017 335,214 3.19 (#9)
5 / 150
 3 Opposition
2021 Esther Ouwehand 399,750 3.84 (#9)
6 / 150
 1 Opposition

Senate
Election Votes  % Seats +/–
2007 3,366 2.06 (#8)
1 / 75
 New
2011 2,177 1.06 (#12)
1 / 75
2015 6,073 3.16 (#9)
2 / 75
 1
2019 6,550 3.78 (#10)
3 / 75
 1

European Parliament
Election List Votes  % Seats +/– Notes
2004 List 153,432 3.22 (#9)
0 / 27
 New [17]
2009 List 157,735 3.46 (#9)
0 / 25
0 / 26
 [18]
2014 List 200,254 4.21 (#9)
1 / 26
 1 [19]
2019 List 220,938 4.02 (#8)
1 / 26
1 / 29
 [20]

Provincial
Election Votes  % Seats +/–
2007[21] 144,132 2.55
9 / 564
2011[22] 131,231 1.88
7 / 566
 2
2015[23] 210,113 3.46
18 / 570
 11
2019[24] 317,103 4.36
20 / 570
 2

Municipalities

At the 2022 Dutch municipal elections the PvdD won 63 seats. Which made them represented in 29 municipalities. Party-wise, they have the most seats (4) in Leiden, Nijmegen and Groningen.[25]

Representation

Members of the House of Representatives

Current members of the House of Representatives, as of 2021:

Members of the Senate

Current members of the Senate since the Senate election of 2019:

  • Niko Koffeman, Parliamentary leader
  • Peter Nicolaï
  • Henriëtte Prast

Members of the European Parliament

Current members of the European Parliament since the European Parliamentary election of 2019:

  • Anja Hazekamp, Leader

The MEPs of the Party for the Animals are part of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left Group in the European parliament.

See also
  • List of animal advocacy parties

References
  1. "Documentatiecentrum Nederlandse Politieke Partijen / PvdD ledentallen per jaar (2007- )". Documentatiecentrum Nederlandse Politieke Partijen (in Dutch). Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2021). "Netherlands". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  3. "A eurosceptic's guide to the Dutch election". The Eurosceptic.
  4. "Links en rechts". parlement.com.
  5. "Tien jaar Partij voor de Dieren". NOS. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  6. "Ouwehand: PvdD is klaar om mee te regeren". nos.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  7. "Vijf jaar Partij voor de Dieren in Nederlands parlement" (in Dutch). 2011-10-02. (note: testimonial party is 'getuigenispartij' in Dutch)
  8. van Ast, Maarten (16 July 2019). "Partij voor de Dieren royeert Van Kooten vanwege 'zetelroof'". Algemeen Dagblad. Retrieved 13 February 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. "Machtsstrijd over koers in top van Partij voor de Dieren". Algemeen Dagblad. 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. "Wij zijn". pinkpolitiek.nl. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  11. "Van de jongerenafdelingen van PvdA, GL, BIJ1 en PvdD mag het wel radicaler - VICE". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2021-07-23.
  12. "Bestuur". Pink Politiek (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-07-24.
  13. Rooduijn, Matthijs (2021-01-14). "Plaatjes van de electoraatjes: de Partij voor de Dieren". StukRoodVlees (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  14. "De pluimveesector mag er zijn en blijven!" (PDF). depluimveesectormagerzijnenblijven.nl. 2021. p. 10.
  15. "NL staat achter de varkenssector!" (PDF). bouwenopframesoffeiten.nl. 2021. p. 10.
  16. "Eten PvdD- en GroenLinksstemmers liever kip dan varken? - Vleesonderzoek varkens- en pluimveesector levert verrassend resultaat op". Foodlog. 14 June 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  17. "Kiesraad: Europees Parlement 10 juni 2004" (in Dutch). Kiesraad. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  18. "Kiesraad: Europees Parlement 4 juni 2009" (in Dutch). Kiesraad. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  19. "Kiesraad: Europees Parlement 22 mei 2014" (in Dutch). Kiesraad. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  20. "Kiesraad: Europees Parlement 23 mei 2019" (in Dutch). Kiesraad. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  21. "Provinciale Staten 7 maart 2007". Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  22. "Provinciale Staten 2 maart 2011". Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  23. "Provinciale Staten 18 maart 2015". Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  24. "Provinciale Staten 20 maart 2019". Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  25. "Partij voor de Dieren verdubbeld in gemeenteraad". partijvoordedieren.nl (in Dutch). 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
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