The Dutch elections are next week. Which has prompted me to make a guide on the Dutch elections and what you can expect. I’m gonna try to keep the introductions simple but due to the Dutch complex multi-party system there is a lot to go through.
Background: Around mid-2023 the Dutch government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte fell because the coalition was unable to agree on stricter migration measures. This was also on the back of numerous other scandals and controversies which I will go over and a provincial election where the government parties performed badly. This has led to the current snap elections.
Why it’s significant: Since 2010 politics has been dominated by the VVD and their leader Mark Rutte who now has been known as the longest sitting prime minister in The Netherlands. This makes it a significant as it will be the first post-Rutte era of Dutch politics.
What is the system like: The Netherlands uses an open list proportional system meaning the amount of seats are equally distributed based on the proportion on the vote and people can vote for a list of candidates of a political party. The threshold is incredibly low only at 0.67% which has led to a large multi-party system where no party can get a majority and have to form coalitions.
What are the main issues: The issues Dutch voters are most concerned about this election are the cost of living crisis, immigration, healthcare and housing. With other issues like climate change and the nitrogen policies taking a backseat.
Since there are a lot of parties to go through I have divided them into different categories from the ones that can become the largest to ones that may or may not win an actual seat.
The contenders for Prime Minister
These are the parties currently polling over 20 seats making them legitimate contenders to become the largest political party and their leader becoming Prime Minister
People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) — Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius
Ideology: Conservative Liberalism
European Group: Renew Europe
The People’s Part for Freedom of Democracy also known as VVD has been the ruling party of The Netherlands since 2010. Since the time they have been ruling the party has been led by our Prime Minister Mark Rutte who has now been the longest serving Prime Minister in The Netherlands with his reign spanning over 4 government coalitions. The party is a member of the pro-european liberal Renew Europe in the European parliament.
Ideologically the VVD has been regarded as a centre-right party that follows in the tradition of European liberalism. In contrast to American politics liberalism in Europe is more comparable to fiscal conservatism in that it favors free market solutions over government intervention and as such the party is most popular among business owners and the self-employed. Under Mark Rutte the party started however becoming a lot more watered down on a number of these issues embracing climate and covid policies one wouldn’t consider liberal or business friendly.
Since Rutte’s long reign numerous corruption scandals and political crises were piling up on him. His government approval ratings reached record lows as the government was faced with the nitrogen crisis/farmer protests, child benefits scandal, Groningen earthquakes and migrant crisis which the party long promised to do something about but never did.
The final nail in the coffin was with the migrant crisis as the 4 parties in the coalition VVD, CDA, D66 and CU could not come to an agreement. With VVD and CDA wanting stricter rules and limitations on family reunification while D66 and CU were against this. Now Mark Rutte is no longer running for re-election and has passed the torch to Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius.
Yeşilgöz is generally considered to be part of the party’s more conservative-wing and a bigger hardliner on migration than Mark Rutte. Due to her Justice Minister background she has been able to establish herself as sort of a law and order candidate which has helped her rebounce the party from Rutte’s low approval rating. It is likely that these issues will be their main focus as well as having to play defense on Rutte’s record.
The party program favors restrictions on migration, lowering taxation to compensate for inflation, halving nitrogen by 2025 and reaching climate neutrality by 2050.
Labour Party/GreenLeft (PvdA/GL) — Frans Timmermans
Ideology: Social Democracy, Green politics
European Group: Party of European Socialists, Greens/EFA
Throughout the 2010s the left-wing parties The Netherlands have shown a very strong decline in support as the VVD reigned dominant. With the Labour Party also known as the PvdA facing a historical defeat in 2017 after being a coalition partner in Rutte’s second government the left have long struggled in the opposition and saw their younger progressive voters move to liberal parties and their traditional working class voters moving towards right-wing populist parties.
The left now seems tired of losing as two major parties on the left those being the Labour Party (PvdA) and the Green Party (GreenLeft or GL) have decided to fuse their ticket and platform. They are currently part of the social democratic S&D and Greens/EFA groups in the European parliament respectively.
Their goal is to unite the left and deliver a party that people can strategically vote for in order to get the first left-wing prime minister in decades while the right-leaning voting base is split between numerous parties.
In addition they have managed to recruit European Commissioner Frans Timmermans in order to run for their leader after the PvdA had long struggled finding a strong candidate.
The PvdA has historically followed in the tradition of social democracy which is essentially a more moderate form of socialism that favors reforming capitalism as opposed to abolishing it where as the Greens are a fusion of 4 former radically left-wing parties ranging from progressive evangelicals to communists. The fusion with the Greens has also pushed PvdA much more to the left where as they previously governed under moderate “purple coalitions” with the centre-right. This has also recently led to some controversies and infighting as a Muslim Brotherhood aligned Green MP stepped down as candidate after accusing the party leadership of PvdA of being too Pro-Israel.
It’s very likely that the fusion ticket will profile itself as the main contender for the progressive vote and focusing their campaign on climate and the housing crisis. Timmermans himself has even gained the nickname Climate Pope for being the architect of the European Green New Deal and has become a very polarizing figure.
The party program includes ending zero hour contracts, stimulating public transport and raising minimum wage to 16 euros per hour.
New Social Contract (NSC) — Pieter Omtzigt
Ideology: Christian Democracy, Anti-corruption
European Group: European People’s Party (Omtzigt is aligned with the group in the Council of Europe)
The last couple of year The Netherlands has seen numerous parties you can describe as “new kids on the block” as Dutch voters have lost their trust in the old establishment parties. New Social Contract or NSC is the newest new kid on the block but why exactly is this party that has appeared seemingly out of nowhere so popular?
It all has to do with their leader Pieter Omtzigt who has emerged as the most popular and trusted politicians in the country. Originally nothing more than an unremarkable backbencher MP for the CDA (a party that we will get into later) the politician gained notoriety for being one of the politicians responsible for exposing the governments child benefits scandal in which the government has falsely accused thousands of parents of child welfare fraud causing many to go financially bankrupt. This was quite awkward because the CDA was a coalition partner of the government at the time.
Then he gained even more notoriety as he was the subject of another government scandal during the 2021 government formation where a leaked note stated “Position Omtzigt, function elsewhere” prompting debate over whether the government was planning to get rid of him in order for CDA to join the next position. After the CDA gave a weak response to this revelation and even backed Mark Rutte after a motion of no confidence attempt as well as additional infighting Omtzigt chose to leave the party.
After polls showed a hypothetical Omtzigt party could actually win the next election he would eventually agree to form his own party New Social Contract or NSC. So far the party relies on Omtzigt’s name recognition and draws support from both left-wing and right-wing populists as he is seen as somewhat of an anti-establishment hero. However he does not appear to aspire to become prime minister but has thus far not offered a PM candidate.
The party is ideologically aligned with Christian Democracy, Communitarianism and Catholic social teaching. The party appears to want to be more left-leaning economically but more right-leaning on social issues and makes itself stand apart from the CDA by focusing on government reform with an emphasis on what’s been called a new “governing culture” based on transparency and good governance over power politics. More notable however despite appealing to more rural voters Omtzigt’s party is considerably less pro-farmer than comparable parties like BBB.
The party program includes cutting net migration to 50k per year, taxing the royal family, electoral reform to allow more regional/rural representation and building new two new nuclear plants.
Party for Freedom (PVV) — Geert Wilders
Ideology: Right-wing Populism, Anti-Islam, Hard Euroskepticism
European Group: Identity and Democracy
This election we are seeing an unprecedented amount of politicians and leaders leaving politics with a whole new generation emerging. Yet one politician who continues to stand the test of time is Geert Wilders arguably the most (in)famous Dutch politician domestically and internationally.
Originally an MP for VVD Wilders left the party to form his own Party for Freedom also called PVV in 2006 and since then has become of the major opposition parties.
Ideologically the party has been known for its right-wing stance on migration and especially sees Islamic migration as a big issue. The party has long taken a strong stance on Islam and favors what Wilders describes as de-islamization. Over time however the PVV has broadened it’s issues, continuing to be a generally right-wing populist party that still takes shots at Islam often but also focuses on other socio-economic issues. The party is also known for appealing to more working class voters and as such holds more pro-worker, left-populist views on economics.
The party itself has been criticized for a lack of internal party democracy (Wilders is officially the party’s only member) and for being allegedly being anti-constitutional which has led to the party facing a cordon sanitaire by many of the parties. However with VVD and BBB both now being willing to cooperate with PVV and Wilders now being willing to compromise on issues if that means forming a coalition their odds of becoming part of a right-leaning coalition has grown.
The parties program includes an asylum stop, putting sales taxes to 0% to combat the cost of living crisis and a Nexit.
The middle of the pack
These are the parties that are polling somewhat well and could very well become important kingmakers for a coalition but their chances of becoming the biggest is significantly smaller
Farmer Citizens Movement (BBB) — Caroline van der Plas
Ideology: Agrarianism
European Group: N/A
The Farmer Citizens Movement also known as the BBB shocked The Netherlands and the world earlier this year. The party that was formed in 2019 as an agrarian party in support of the farmer protests saw a landslide victory in the provincial elections when the farmer protests gained international attention and momentum as the nitrogen policies of the government were the main issue. Not only was the landslide victory of BBB seen as a backlash from farmer’s but it was considered a huge rural and suburban revolt against what many see as elites in the big cities.
After that BBB emerged as one of the largest parties in the polls even becoming the biggest for a while that is until the recent elections were announced. Two things appeared to have stalled their momentum. First is the emergence of Omtzigt and his party which both compete for very similar rural ex-CDA voters and are ideologically similar. The second is that the topic of nitrogen has taken somewhat of a backseat from other issues such as housing, economy and migration.
Ideologically BBB has similar roots to NSC as both appear to be left-leaning on economic issues while culturally conservative. However BBB has a more concrete platform and had a longer time to develop their party. The party also puts a much stronger emphasis on rural politics and appears to be moving towards right-wing populism as the party has embraced several right-wing politicians from JA21 and PVV.
Caroline van der Plas is unique in the race in that she is not aspiring to become prime minister and is instead putting forward former state secretary for economic affairs Mona Keijzer as prime minister in the case they become the largest while Caroline herself will continue leading the party in parliament.
The party’s program includes significantly reducing the asylum quota, removing the nitrogen plans of the previous government, allowing MPs to vote their conscience on abortion and favoring nuclear energy over renewable.
Democrats 66 (D66) — Rob Jetten
Ideology: Progressive Liberalism, Eurofederalism
European Group: Renew Europe
Democrats 66 or D66 was the biggest coalition partner in the third and current Rutte government and has had quite the journey lately emerging initially as the biggest progressive party to having gone downhill quite fast as the party has been dragged down by the government’s scandals and internal issues and now their leader Sigrid Kaag who was meant to be the next big politicians in The Netherlands is leaving politics and climate minister Rob Jetten is there to pick up the pieces.
Ideologically is rather interesting. Initially founded as a populist party in the 1980s who’s aim was to radically change the Dutch democratic system they have since evolved into a socially liberal party that was responsible for many of the liberalizing laws on gay marriage, abortion and euthanasia The Netherlands has become (in)famous for. The party holds a combination of socially progressive views, a very pro-climate stance while also being more economically liberal akin to VVD. The party is also alongside Volt the most Pro-EU by far favoring more federalization.
In the last election Sigrid Kaag strongly appealed to progressive voters as a potential first female prime minister and with the help of D66 colluding with the media to influence the elections by releasing a documentary on Kaag that the party itself was heavily involved with the party became the second largest at the cost of left-wing parties who’s voters strategically voted for her in hopes to oust Rutte and get a progressive coalition.
This didn’t happen. In essence the party basically decided to join the exact same Rutte coalition as last time and as the crises and corruption scandals piled. The party also suffered from MeToo scandals it lost its popularity and Kaag has since decided to leave politics after they helped make the government fall over migration. Now for the second time Rob Jetten is tasked with being the party leader after one is abruptly leaving.
The party program includes climate neutrality by 2040, replacing benefits with a basic income and a lot of investment in education.
Party for the Animals (PvdD) — Esther Ouwehand
Ideology: Animal Rights, Left-wing Populism
Political Group: The Left in the European Parliament — GUE/NGL
Party for the animals also known as PvdD initially started as a single issue animal welfare party in The Netherlands but since then has evolved as sort of a left-wing populist party with a staunch environmentalist/climate agenda.
Ideologically there is not a lot to say about the party. As you could imagine they hold various stances on animal rights and environmentalism including an even stricter nitrogen policy. Their party program and manifesto is arguably the most climate-centric of all the parties.
In contrast to the other left-wing parties throughout the 2010s this party has actually seen quite remarkable growth and can now reliably be considered a middle sized party. However recently the party has been suffering of internal fighting as there was a lot of questions on whether the party’s leader Esther Ouwehand would be the leading candidate and after a lot of flip flopping it appears she will go through with leading the party in the elections anyway.
Their program includes reducing livestock by 75%, a ban on
PFAS substances and climate neutrality by 2030.
Socialist Party (SP) — Lilian Marijnissen
Ideology: Democratic Socialism, Left-wing Populism
European Group: The Left in the European Parliament — GUE/NGL
Out of all the political leaders that are moving on it may seem surprising to see Lilian Marijnissen continue to be the leader of the Socialist Party also known as the SP as in every election she has led the party has led to a loss of seats. And it’s not looking to be much better this time around.
The Socialist Party is quite interesting historically. The party originally began as a fringe Maoist party until it was completely overhauled by a figure called Jan Marijnissen to promote Democratic Socialism instead and they were quite successful in doing so. The party provided a left-wing working class alternative to the centre-left which tend to appeal more to urban upper class voters.
But now the party has seen its success shrink. For one the party’s working class base has been increasingly moving towards right-wing anti-migrant parties. The party has also been suffering from infighting between the more traditional older working class base and the more younger radical socialist voters. This even culminated in an entryist attempt by communists who openly advocated civil war to take over the youth wing which led to them and the youth wing being removed from the party altogether.
Economically the party generally has some of the most left-wing policies from nationalizing healthcare to raising the minimum wage while socially they tend to distinguish themselves from other progressive left-wing parties by being more strict on migration and euroskeptic.
The party program includes raising the minimum wage to 16 euros per hour, a binding referendum and takes aim at multinationals to combat climate change as opposed to farmers.
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) — Henri Bontenbal
Ideology: Christian Democracy
European Group: European People’s Party
We have been talking a lot about the Christian Democratic Appeal also known as the CDA in the context of BBB and NSC. It was important to understand the context behind those parties to fully understand the predicament that party is in right now.
Historically CDA was a fusion of the main Catholic and Protestant parties in Dutch politics. It is part of the Christian Democratic tradition which in Europe is a political ideology that combines socially conservative stances with a more centrist approach on economics favoring a social market economy that sits between free market liberalism and government interventionist socialism. This formula allowed CDA to be the dominant political party in the country throughout the late 20th century and was even the ruling party before Mark Rutte.
Ideologically CDA has generally been known for its pragmatism as the party has been known as a power party i.e a that is capable of working with both the centre-left and centre-right. As a result it has also meant that their identity is largely wonky with both more left-leaning social christian and right-leaning conservative wings.
With the decline of the traditional church base and a lack of strong leadership the CDA was effectively reduced to becoming Mark Rutte’s obligatory centre-right coalition buddy for most of the 2010s. Still while it was no longer the juggernaut in politics it was the recent controversies around the party that has caused its downfall. The aforementioned controversies involving Omtzigt as well as the perceived backstabbing of the rural voters by embracing the governments nitrogen policies has led to the BBB and NSC effectively snatching all their voters.
Pretty much all the potential leaders for the party including pretty much all their ministers have refused to accept the leadership position effectively leaving the sinking ship to Henri Bontenbal a pretty unknown freshman MP who ironically was a substitute for Pieter Omtzigt when he has a burnout.
Their program includes raising childcare, building small-scale nuclear power plants and…uh…banning anonymous accounts on social media which would rather be inconvenient for my Twitter account.
The smaller parties
These are the parties that will still gain enough votes to make it into the Dutch parliament but generally poll below at 5 seats or lower.
Forum for Democracy (FvD) — Thierry Baudet
Ideology: National Conservatism, Hard Euroskepticism
Political Group: N/A (Formerly European Conservatives and Reformists then Identity and Democracy then none)
Forum for Democracy is a party with an incredibly wild history. From the party’s rise, the party’s fall, controversies, infighting and significant changes in their beliefs. There’s absolutely no way for me to cover all the antics that they and the leader have been up to so I will try to more or less keep it short.
Originally the party ran in 2017 led by Thierry Baudet as sort of a right-wing conservative party with their biggest issue being democratic reform mainly the implementation of a binding referendum. Initially the party saw very significant success as it positioned itself as more right-wing than the VVD and less radical than the PVV. This sweet spot helped the party emerge as the main anti-establishment party on the right and the first party in years that actually beat the VVD in an election during the 2019 provincial elections.
This high didn’t last long. The FvD was quickly divided between different factions which has led to wave of controversies that slowly led to numerous politicians and figures leaving the party. First their senate leader Henk Otten, then a massive wave of provincial MPs and prominent figures left to form JA21, then Baudet’s right-hand man and 2 other MPs defected to form BVNL, then his senators left including one of the most prominent original FvD politicians Theo Hiddema.
As a result this pretty much meant that only the most pure Baudet loyalists remained and the party kind of transformed into a party that pretty much appealed to the culture wars. The party went from a broadly appealing conservative party to one that mainly appeals to a smaller but stable anti-establishment, anti-government crowd.
Their program includes a ban on transgender propaganda, a Swiss referendum model and reconsidering membership of supranational groups like the EU and NATO.
Christian Union (CU) — Mirjam Bikker
Ideology: Christian Democracy
Political Group: European People’s Party
The Christian Union is the smallest of the third and current Rutte government and was likewise involved in the collapse of the current government as a result of the party being against stricter rules on family unification.
Christian Union is part of what can be described as the “small Christian” party tradition. This refers to Christian parties, often Reformed, that split from the bigger Christian parties because they were either not conservative enough or due to a church split. Christian Union is the result of a merger between two of these smaller Christian parties.
The party is generally known to be socially conservative on medical-ethical issues like abortion and euthanasia but that’s about where their conservatism appears to end. Socially and fiscally they tend to be progressive on migration, climate and economic policy. They also tend to be rather pragmatic which has led them to become a coalition partner in a number of governments. Their increasingly progressive views also has led to cooperation with the SGP another Reformed Christian party to have become more difficult. The party also mainly finds its voters in the Dutch bible belt.
The party’s program includes no limits on family unification for migrants, expanding family and childcare programs and actually supports the highest minimum wage increase at 18 euros per hour by 2028.
Volt Netherlands — Laurens Dassen
Ideology: Social Liberalism, Eurofederalism
Group: Greens/EFA
Volt is a rather unique party in that it is considered a pan-european party that runs under the same name in many European countries. However while most of these Volt parties have not seen much success in The Netherlands they have been able to win seats in 2021 through a campaign appealing to younger voters and expats.
Ideologically Volt pretty much shares the same space with D66 and it’s quite hard to argue what exactly makes them different from D66 other than maybe being more explicit about wanting a European Federation and the fact that D66 voters can vote for them without the embarrassment of voting for a Rutte coalition party.
Like most of the start up parties in The Netherlands the party has seen its share of infighting, specifically the party made accusations against one of their MPs Nilüfer Gündoğan of inappropriate behavior which led to her being kicked out of the party.
The party program includes favoring a United States of Europe, reducing the voting age to 16, climate neutrality by 2040 and an entire year dedicated to our slave past.
Reformed Political Party (SGP) — Chris Stoffer
Ideology: Christian Right, Social Conservatism
Political Group: European Conservatives and Reformists
Amidst all the drama, infighting, political start ups and politicians leaving we can still at least rely on the oldest existing and most consistent party in the country. The Reformed Political Party also known as SGP.
Founded in 1918 as a staunch Calvinist party the country is the oldest continuously existing party in The Netherlands and have consistently polled between 2–3 seats. This is because the primary voter base of the party has always been in the bible belt, but more specifically the most conservative Calvinist churches. Because of this they are a minor party nationally but are actually the largest in a number of local districts.
As you can imagine the party is conservative on social issues such as same sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia. But unlike the Christian Union the party also tends to be more right-wing on migration, climate and economics as well. For a long time Kees van der Staaij has been the party’s leader but he likewise will retire with MP Chris Stoffer replacing him.
Their party program includes opposition to expanding abortion and euthanasia, banning stores from being open on Sundays and more programs to incentivize families.
DENK — Stephan van Baarle
Ideology: Social Democracy, Multiculturalism, Migrant interests
European Group: N/A
DENK which is Dutch for think and Turkish for equality is a political party founded by two former Labour Party MPs as they were against the party’s stance on integration for migrants. So as you can imagine this is a political party pretty much centered around migrant issues. Especially Turkish and Moroccan migrants which are generally their entire voter base.
The party generally hold social democratic views on the economy while socially focusing primarily on minority politics. Favoring banning the term “allochtoon” to describe migrants, establishing a racism register, building a slavery museum and appointing imams to positions of power. While being generally left-leaning they do also hold some conservative views on cultural issues like gender ideology.
The party has long been controversial for its ties to the Turkish government having long been accused of being the “long arm of Ankara” and puppets of Turkish president Erdogan. The party has received numerous controversies involving ethnically profiling Dutch-Turkish politicians who disagree with them, making fake election posters of other parties and denying the Armenian genocide.
After a number of infighting in the party and the party’s Turkish leader Tanahan Kuzu being replaced the party seemed to move away from overt Turkish nationalism and portrayed themselves more as a left-wing anti-establishment party.
The party posted a provocative program that includes favoring a one state solution in favor of Palestine and jailing people like Wilders for criticizing Islam alongside more general left-leaning stances on social programs while also opposing LGBT ideology.
May not make it in
This refers to parties that are currently pretty much on the edge of the electoral threshold. While they still poll either consistently, sometimes or rarely at 1 seat they may or may not make it in. But as they still have a shot or are represented in the house of representatives they are still significant enough to bring up.
Correct Answer 21 (JA21) — Joost Eerdmans
Ideology: National Conservatism
European Group: European Conservatives and Reformists
JA21 is one of the parties that split off from Forum for Democracy and actually ended up being one of its more successful splinters as they won 3 seats last election and gained some prominent figures for the party.
The party was founded by Joost Eerdmans who has had quite the political career going from a Pim Fortuyn List MP in the 2000s to become the leader of the largest party in Rotterdam to then allying with Thierry Baudet and was even considered his successor during the controversies. And then there’s the second founder Annabel Nanninga who started her career as a bit of a satirical journalist before becoming a prominent Forum senator.
Ideologically JA21 is pretty close to the views of Forum for Democracy back in 2019 positioning itself as a more hardline conservative alternative to VVD while also portraying itself as more realistic and pragmatic than PVV and FvD. Their main focus has been on restricting migration and asylum while economically being one of the more pro-market parties.
While initially the party appeared to be gaining success in the polls the party ended up with rather disappointing results during the provincial elections as voters moved to BBB. And then you guessed it more infighting began to happen. Many figures in the party complained that there was not enough internal democracy and that Eerdmans and Nanninga held too much power.
This issue became particularly bad when Nanninga wanted to be elected for the house of representatives when she already has a political function in the senate, provincial and local seats causing many to accuse her of job chasing. This has led to their MPs defecting to join BBB.
The party’s program includes implementing the Danish asylum model, a full focus on nuclear energy and removing red tape for businesses.
Interests of The Netherlands (BVNL) — Wybren van Haga
Ideology: Classical Liberalism
European Group: N/A
BVNL is a party that was formed by Wybren van Haga an MP who defected from VVD in order to join Forum for Democracy and became Thierry Baudet’s right-hand man in the 2021 elections until he defected again and took 2 MPs with him to form BVNL.
The party promotes itself as classical liberal and culturally conservative and much like JA21 seems to compete for disaffected VVD voters who consider the VVD too soft. However they also consider themselves less socially conservative than other right-wing populist parties and seems to focus more on the economic aspect. In particular they want to promote themselves as a party for the self-employed, entrepreneurs and small businesses that have long been a strong VVD voting bloc. The party has also been successfully elected in several local elections but failed to win any in the provincial elections.
Oh yea remember Henk Krol from the previous party I talked about? Yea he’s back and is second on the party list.
The party program includes a complete asylum stop to fix the housing crisis, removing nitrogen programs and favoring a technocratic “business cabinet” in contrast to party-based cabinet.
BIJ1 — Edson Olf
Ideology: Anti-capitalism, Multiculturalism, Minority Interests
European Group: N/A
BIJ1 is a far-left political party founded by Dutch-Surinamese BLM-esque activist Sylvana Simons. The name is a pun on the Dutch word that means “together”. Initially the party was founded as Article 1 after Sylvana defected from DENK and was only able to win a local seat in Amsterdam however in the 2021 elections the party in a surprise was able to just barely scrape over the threshold in spite of the exit polls saying otherwise.
The party is easily the most left on the Dutch overton window. The party is openly anticapitalist and takes strong inspiration from communist thinkers like Karl Marx. The party also strongly focuses on minority politics with an emphasis on the alleged racism in Dutch society advocating banning the figure Zwarte Piet and reparations for slavery.
The party has had numerous controversies including the youth wing participating events with the anti-white South African Economic Freedom Fighters party and a candidate making death threats against Wybren van Haga. The party also suffered from infighting in particular with the Amsterdam branch over toxicity, MeToo allegations and racism.
The infighting between the national and Amsterdam branch has led to Sylvana Simons not running for re-election and leaving politics. The party has now chosen Edson Olf a relatively unknown figure. With Sylvana having been the only prominent figure the party has not been able to poll at a single seat since July and is unlikely to get re-elected.
Their program includes a ban on Zwarte Piet, slave reparation, moving towards a 30-hour work week and nationalizing a bunch of things.
50 PLUS — Gerard van Hooft
Ideology: Pensioners’ Interests
European Group: European People’s Party
50PLUS is a pensioner’s party. Sorry but yeah that’s about it there’s not much more interesting to say as the party is primarily known for being a party for the elderly as well as a lot of controversies and infighting.
The party was founded due to a controversial move by the Dutch government to raise the AOW age, which is effectively the age what pension we get. So the party’s main focus has been on reducing the AOW and focusing on elderly politics.
In spite of the party being rather boring it’s somehow the party that has suffered the most infighting of them all. Are you ready? Because this is gonna really sum up the mess that is Dutch politics
- Henk Krol was the leader of the party. He left due to infighting over some dude he wanted to put on the electoral list
- He forms a new political party with an MP that defected from Party for the Animals and a senator that defected from Forum for Democracy to form Party for the Future which is a name they actually got from a satirical party and the guy that initially used that party name changed his party to The Party Party.
- Then that party collapses due to infighting. The defected animal huggers party then goes on to form a party called Splinter (yes the party is that self-aware and they’re also running this election but has no chance at a seat)
- Henk Krol also forms a new political party called List Henk Krol. Yes he just names it after himself. No it did not win seats. Now he joined BVNL which is the party we will get later to
- So then what happened to 50PLUS? Well they needed to get a new leader so they chose the director of some elderly union called Liane den Haan in an online primary election only 10% of members voted in because surprisingly an online vote for a party mainly made up of boomers is not a good idea
- She defects from the party in literal weeks because it turns out she actually supported raising the AOW. Meaning the only MP they had defected leaving the party with no MPs
- Now a candidate that they revoked his membership from and got arrested for trespassing on a party meeting has been voted the party leader
Their party program includes reversing the pension reforms, more funding for police and security and a focus on “climate adaptation” to solve climate issues.
Conclusion: There is quite a lot to vote for as you can see. And it remains to be seen what the end result and coalition will be. But at of this point it is a close 4-way race between VVD, PVV, NSC and PvdA-GL
