Dutch general election, 1977

Dutch general election, 1977

25 May 1977

All 150 seats to the House of Representatives 76 seats were needed for a majority Turnout 88.1%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Joop den Uyl Dries van Agt Hans Wiegel Party PvdA CDA VVD Leader since 1966 1976 1971 Last election 43 seats, 27.3% 48 seats, 30.9% * 22 seats, 14.4% Seats won 53 49 28 Seat change 10 1 6 Popular vote 2,813,793 2,653,416 1,492,689 Percentage 33.8% 31.9% 17.9%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jan Terlouw Hette Abma Marcus Bakker Party D66 SGP CPN Leader since 1973 1971 1963 Last election 6 seats, 4.1% 3 seats, 2.2% 7 seats, 4.4% Seats won 8 3 2 Seat change 2 0 5 Popular vote 452,423 177,010 143,481 Percentage 5.4% 2.1% 1.7%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Ria Beckers Bart Verbrugh Bram van der Lek Party PPR GPV PSP Leader since 1977 1977 1972 Last election 7 seats, 4.8% 2 seats, 1.7% 2 seats, 1.5% Seats won 3 1 1 Seat change 4 1 1 Popular vote 140,910 79,421 77,972 Percentage 1.6% 0.9% 0.9%

Prime Minister before election Joop den Uyl PvdA Prime Minister Dries van Agt CDA

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 25 May 1977.^[1] The Labour Party remained the largest party, winning 53 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.^[2] Following the election, it took 208 days of negotiations to form a new government. This was a European record for longest government formation that stood until after the 2010 Belgian general election.^[3] The Christian Democratic Appeal was formed by the Anti Revolutionary Party (ARP), Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the Catholic People's Party (KVP) in 1976. The first joint party leader was a member of the KVP, Dries van Agt.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Labour Party	2,813,793	33.8	53	+10
Christian Democratic Appeal	2.653.416	31.9	49	+1
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	1,492,689	17.9	28	+6
Democrats 1966	452,423	5.4	8	+2
Reformed Political Party	177,010	2.1	3	0
Communist Party of the Netherlands	143,481	1.7	2	–5
Political Party of Radicals	140,910	1.7	3	–4
Reformed Political League	79,421	1.0	1	–1
Pacifist Socialist Party	77,972	0.9	1	–1
Farmers' Party	69,914	0.8	1	–2
Democratic Socialists '70	59,487	0.7	1	–5
Democratic Action Centre	158,234	1.9	0	New
European Conservative Union			0	New
Federation of Elderly Parties of the Netherlands			0	New
Griek List			0	New
Jusia List			0	New
Communist Unity Movement of the Netherlands			0	New
New Middle Party			0	0
Dutch Peoples-Union			0	New
Party of the Taxpayers			0	New
Roman Catholic Party of the Netherlands			0	–1
Reformatory Political Federation			0	New
Socialist Party			0	New
Verbond tegen Ambtelijke Willekeur			0	New
Invalid/blank votes	48,217	–	–	–
Total	8,365,829	100	150	0
Registered voters/turnout	9,506,318	88.0	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular Vote
PvdA			33.83%
CDA			31.89%
VVD			17.95%
D66			5.44%
SGP			2.13%
CPN			1.73%
PPR			1.69%
GPV			0.95%
PSP			0.94%
BP			0.84%
DS70			0.72%
RPF			0.64%
Other			1.26%

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1396 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1414
3. Laurent Thomet (January 8, 2011). "Belgium's shoddy political record poses financial threat". Retrieved 2011-01-27. Without a government for nearly seven months, Belgium now holds a dubious record in Europe and with no end in sight to the political crisis, fears are growing of a backlash from watchful markets. The divided country on Saturday broke the 208-day mark set by the Netherlands in 1977 for being without a government.