Dutch general election, 1981

Dutch general election, 1981
Netherlands
26 May 1981

All 150 seats to the House of Representatives
76 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout 87.0%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Dries van Agt Joop den Uyl Hans Wiegel
Party CDA PvdA VVD
Leader since 1976 1966 1971
Last election 49 seats, 31.9% 53 seats, 33.8% 28 seats, 17.9%
Seats won 48 44 26
Seat change Decrease1 Decrease9 Decrease2
Popular vote 2,677,259 2,458,452 1,505,311
Percentage 30.8% 28.3% 17.3%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Jan Terlouw Fred van der Spek Marcus Bakker
Party D66 PSP CPN
Leader since 1973 1978 1963
Last election 8 seats, 5.4% 1 seats, 0.9% 2 seats, 1.7%
Seats won 17 3 3
Seat change Increase9 Increase2 Increase1
Popular vote 961,121 184,422 178,292
Percentage 11.1% 2.1% 2.1%

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Leader Henk van Rossum Ria Beckers Meindert Leerling
Party SGP PPR RPF
Leader since 1981 1977 1980
Last election 3 seats, 2.1% 3 seats, 1.7% 0 seats, 0.6%
Seats won 3 3 2
Seat change Steady0 Steady0 Increase2
Popular vote 171,324 171,042 108,364
Percentage 2.0% 2.0% 1.2%


Prime Minister before election

Dries van Agt
CDA

Prime Minister

Dries van Agt
CDA

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

Results

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Christian Democratic Appeal2,677,25930.848–1
Labour Party2,458,45228.344–9
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy1,505,31117.326–2
Democrats 66961,12111.117+9
Pacifist Socialist Party184,4222.13+2
Communist Party of the Netherlands178,2922.13+1
Reformed Political Party171,3242.030
Political Party of Radicals171,0422.030
Reformatory Political Federation108,3641.22+2
Reformed Political League70,8780.810
Centre Party204,3722.40New
Democratic Socialists '700–1
The Peace Party0New
Evangelical People's Party0New
God with Us0New
International Communist League0New
Small Party0New
Livable Netherlands0New
Nederlandse Evoluie Partij0New
Dutch Peoples-Union00
Party for the Liquidation of the Netherlands0New
Partij Van Rijksgenoten0New
Realists '810New
Roman Catholic Party of the Netherlands00
Right-wing People's Party0–1
Survive Together or Die0New
Socialist Party00
Verbond tegen Ambtelijke Willekeur0New
Invalid/blank votes47,401
Total8,738,2381001500
Registered voters/turnout10,040,12187.0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver
Popular Vote
CDA
 
30.81%
PvdA
 
28.29%
VVD
 
17.32%
D66
 
2.12%
CPN
 
2.05%
SGP
 
1.97%
PPR
 
1.97%
RPF
 
1.25%
GPV
 
0.82%
DS70
 
0.56%
Other
 
1.79%

References

  1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1396 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1414