Dutch general election, 2002

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Elections in the Netherlands for the Tweede Kamer of Parliament

1 Introduction
2 National summary
3 Parties
4 Consequences

[edit] Introduction

The Dutch general election of 2002, held on May 15, 2002 was the most dramatic in Dutch history, not just in terms of the electoral results. It was completely focused on populist leader Pim Fortuyn, who was assassinated shortly before the elections. His party made a huge leap from nothing to 17% of the votes, making it the second biggest party. Fortuyn had especially attacked immigration policies and also questioned all forms of policies undertaken by the previous 'purple' cabinets (Paars) of Wim Kok, which he blamed for everything from crime to waiting lists in health services.

The great losers were PvdA, VVD and D66, the coalition parties of the 'purple' cabinets. Especially the PvdA under the technocratic leadership of Ad Melkert suffered a humiliating defeat.

The CDA was the surprising winner of the election, gaining 14 seats (from 29 to 43) and becoming the largest party in the Tweede Kamer. This success is owed to its new leader Jan Peter Balkenende, who had fiercely attacked Fortuyn and presented himself as a man of basic decency (norms and values). Balkenende would become prime minister of the resulting first Balkenende cabinet, which, however, fell after only 5 months due to internal unrest in coalition partner LPF.

Another party making its debut in the Tweede Kamer was Leefbaar Nederland.

[edit] National summary

Turnout: 79.1%

Only parties that got seats in parliament are shown in the table below.

In order to show how dramatic the results were, the differences with the previous elections in terms of assigned seats are shown in the last column.

Party	Lijsttrekker	Votes	%	Seats	difference
Christen-Democratisch Appèl	Jan Peter Balkenende	2,653,723	27.9	43	+ 14
Lijst Pim Fortuyn	Pim Fortuyn	1,614,801	17.0	26	+ 26
Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie	Hans Dijkstal	1,466,722	15.4	24	- 14
Partij van de Arbeid	Ad Melkert	1,436,023	15.1	23	- 22
GroenLinks	Paul Rosenmöller	660,692	7.0	10	- 1
Socialistische Partij	Jan Marijnissen	560,447	5.9	9	+ 4
Democraten 66	Thom de Graaf	484,317	5.1	7	- 7
ChristenUnie	Kars Veling	240,953	2.5	4	- 1
Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij	Bas van der Vlies	163,562	1.7	2	- 1
Leefbaar Nederland	Fred Teeven	153,055	1.6	2	+ 2
Total		9,501,152	100.0	150

[edit] Parties

Christian Democratic Appeal (Christen-Democratisch Appèl)
Christian Union (ChristenUnie), merger of Reformatorian Political Federation and Reformed Political Alliance
Democrats 66 (Democraten 66)
Green Left (GroenLinks)
Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid)
List Pim Fortuyn (Lijst Pim Fortuyn)
Livable Netherlands (Leefbaar Nederland)
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie)
Political Reformed Party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij)
Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij)

[edit] Consequences

The election of May 15, 2002 was the beginning of a year of political chaos in the Netherlands as a result of internal fights in LPF, which led to the fall of the first Balkenende cabinet (CDA-LPF-VVD), which was inaugurated on July 22 2002 and fell on October 16 2002. The CDA became coalition party after eight years in opposition (1994-2002), which, however, became the shortest-ruling Dutch cabinet since the Second World War, lasting only 5 months.