Party for the Animals

Party for the Animals
Partij voor de Dieren
Abbreviation PvdD
Leader Marianne Thieme
Chairman Floriske van Leeuwen
Leader in the Senate Niko Koffeman
Leader in the House of Representatives Marianne Thieme
Leader in the European Parliament Anja Hazekamp
Founded October 28, 2002 (2002-10-28)
Headquarters Amsterdam
Youth wing PINK!
Thinktank Nicolaas G. Pierson foundation
Membership (2017) 12,866[1]
Ideology Animal rights
Environmentalism[2]
International affiliation Euro Animal 7
European Parliament group European United Left–Nordic Green Left
Colours      Green
Seats in the Senate
2 / 75
Seats in the House of Representatives
5 / 150
States-Provincial
18 / 570
Seats in the European Parliament
1 / 26
Website
www.partijvoordedieren.nl
www.partyfortheanimals.nl
www.pinkpolitiek.nl

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, though it claims not to be a single-issue party. The party does consider itself to be a testimonial party, which does not seek to gain political power, but only to testify to its beliefs and thereby influence other parties.[3]

Its political leader is Marianne Thieme.

In the House of Representatives the Party for the Animals holds 5 of the 150 seats. In the Senate it holds 2 of the 75 seats. In the House of Representatives Marianne Thieme and Esther Ouwehand represent the PvdD since November 30, 2006 already. In the Senate Niko Koffeman and Christine Teunissen represent it ; the first mentioned since June 12, 2007, the second since June 9, 2015. In the 2014 European Parliament elections, the party gained one seat; it's held by Anja Hazekamp.

History

The Party for the Animals was founded on 28 October 2002 by Marianne Thieme, among others.[4]

In the Dutch general election of 2003 it gained 50,000 votes (0.5%), but not a seat in the House of Representatives.

In the 2004 European Parliament election the party gained 153,000 votes (3.2%), three times as many as in the 2002 Dutch general election. Still the number of votes was not enough to obtain a seat in the European Parliament.

During the 2006 parliamentary elections it gained 179,988 votes (1.8%), enough for two seats in Dutch parliament. In the run-up to these elections the party was supported by several Dutch celebrities, such as writers Maarten 't Hart and Jan Wolkers.

In its first municipal council elections in 2010, the party gained one seat in each of the five places where it participated.

In its third parliamentary elections, on June 9, 2010, the PvdD retained its two seats in the House of Representatives with 122,317 votes (1.3%).

In the 2012 general elections the party got 182,162 votes, an increase of 45%, but with just under 2% of the popular vote this did not secure a third seat in the House of Representatives.

In the March 2017 general elections 3 more seats were gained, resulting in a total of 5.

Miscellaneous

The "PvdD" is the first political party in the world to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights.

One of the results that the PvdD claims to have reached during its first four-year parliamentary period is the fact that the government has declared that reduction of national meat consumption further on is one of its priorities.[5]

The Party for Animals welcomed its 10,000th member in late 2009.

Electoral results

Parliament

Election year # of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
# of
overall seats won
+/– Notes
2003 47,754 0.5 (#10)
0 / 150
new in opposition
2006 179,988 1.8 (#9)
2 / 150
2 Increase in opposition
2010 122,317 1.3 (#10)
2 / 150
0 Steady in opposition
2012 182,162 1.9 (#9)
2 / 150
0 Steady in opposition
2017 335,214 3.1 (#9)
5 / 150
3 Increase

Senate

Election year # of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
# of
overall seats won
+/–
2007 3,366 2.06 (#08)
1 / 75
new
2011 2,177 1.06 (#12)
1 / 75
0 Steady
2015 6,073 3.16 (#09)
2 / 75
1 Increase

European Parliament

Election year # of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
# of
overall seats won
+/–
2004 153,432 3.22 (#9)
0 / 27
new
2009 157,735 3.46 (#9)
0 / 25
0 Steady
2014 200,254 4.21 (#9)
1 / 26
1 Increase

Representation

Members of the House of Representatives

After the 2017 elections the party has five representatives in the House of Representatives:

Members of the Senate

After the 2015 Senate elections, the party has two representatives in the Senate:

Members of the European Parliament

After the 2014 European Parliament elections, the party has one representative in the European Parliament:

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

References

  1. PvdD ledentallen per jaar (2007- ), University of Groningen, 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  2. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Parties-and-elections.eu.
  3. "Vijf jaar Partij voor de Dieren in Nederlands parlement" (in Dutch). 2011-10-02. (note: testimonial party is 'getuigenispartij' in Dutch)
  4. "Tien jaar Partij voor de Dieren". NOS. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  5. "Interview". Nu.nl. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
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