Current Events > Dutch General Election results - VVD (cons.libs) and D66 (prog.libs) big winners

(+) Yeah! (+)

On March 17 2021 the Dutch General Elections took place, and the preliminary result just came in. There are now 17 parties which will holds seats in the Dutch House of Representatives, the highest amount ever, which has only happened once before, in 1918.

For clarification: the Dutch House of Representatives consists of 150 seats, and no single party has ever had an absolute majority, meaning coalitions are the order of the day when forming a governing cabinet.

One easy prediction that came true was that VVD (conservative liberals) has become the biggest party once again, for the forth time in a row, at 36 seats.
Despite a lot of people growing tired of VVDs dominance for the past decade and their favoritism of banks and large corporations, its leader (Mark Rutte, who has been prime minister for the past decade) has been the face of leadership through corona times, which added to their victory

The growth of D66 (progressive liberals) from 19 to 27 seats was a surprise, who are now by far the second biggest party.
Although they maintain an image of being a pragmatic party who lets people have their liberty but will not let them down, they also have very ambitious though realistic plans to benefit the protection of the environment and limit climate change, second only to those of the Animal Party (which has remained at 5 seats).

As for the two conservatist populist parties: anti-islam party PVV has gone from 20 to 17 seats and FvD grew from 2 to 8 seats, despite recent controversies of the partys failure to take action on racist texting among FvDs youth association, the party leaders anti-semitic and racist texting, and the partys support in local governments to plans they claimed to oppose.

Most other parties have either kept the same amount of seats as before, or lost a few to the parties mentioned above and to four newcomer parties (each with 1 to 3 seats).

In conclusion, many feared that it would take at least five parties to form a cabinet this time, though D66s big gain and their mutual willingness to work with VVD will make the formation process at least a little less challenging.
As vote counts are still coming in, the exact numbers of who gets exactly how many seats is still somewhat in the air, though the above summarizes what is already certain at this point.

---

It's really not a good thing that D66 got that many votes. Not with that damn terrorist sympathizer Kaag at the helm.

PokemonYoutube posted...

It's really not a good thing that D66 got that many votes. Not with that damn terrorist sympathizer Kaag at the helm.

Hardly sympathizer, though she has answered for the matter you're referring to in the notoriously grilling Nieuwsuur interview. And imo she's more experienced and seems more capable than Rob Jetten (who was previously at the helm of D66).

---

But at least we're one-third of the way there when it comes to getting rid of DENK, and Jesse Klaver got put in his place, so it's not all bad.

PokemonYoutube posted...

But at least we're one-third of the way there when it comes to getting rid of DENK, and Jesse Klaver got put in his place, so it's not all bad.

That's one way of looking at it. If I may ask, what is your political preference?

---

SoIidLegacy posted...

That's one way of looking at it. If I may ask, what is your political preference?

I used to vote VVD, but I was planning on voting FvD until that party imploded. According to the Stemwijzer, I should've voted for JA21 but that seemed like a waste of my vote so I just said fuck it and voted PVV.

Over 90% of the votes have been counted. Some parties have gained or lost a seat since last night, but overall the results are still pretty much like described in the OP.

What's always interesting to see is why the bigger shifts took place.
I figure D66 gains were (at least part) to thank to the fact their climate plans are the most ambitious ones, after the Animal Party. Unlike the Animal Party however, D66's plans seem more realistic and achievable, both in the way their party program describes it, and as was calculated by the Central Plan Bureau.
This, along with the entry of Volt and BIJ1, likely explains why the other left-wing/progressive parties were relatively unsuccessful this election.

FvD's gains were very likely due to their pleading to open up society all the way and undo all Covid restrictions. Their gain and the entry of JA21 easily explains PVV's slight loss in seats.

The next challenge will be the formation of the new cabinet. VVD & D66 are very likely to work together, and thus will need at least two more parties (one if PVV were to join, though VVD & D66 have both excluded the thought of coalition with PVV).

---

Interesting shifts indeed. I'm thinking VVD-D66-CDA (Christian Democrats)-PvdA (Labor Party) might be a realistic and balanced majority for a cabinet. If you'd change CDA with SP (Socialist Party) in that mix, it would make it more interesting for left/progressive supporters, though I'm not sure how willing VVD and SP would be to work together.
As long as we can get some climate-related progress going, I'll be satisfied.

Oh well, glad that PVV and FvD have remained small enough to stay out of that equation. Also nice to see the gains (albeit small) for Animal Party, Volt and BIJ1.

---

The good news just keeps coming in. Known Muslim extremist, sharia advocate and traitor to his country Arnoud van Doorn will be leaving the Netherlands after his party's failure to secure even a single seat in parliament.