Dutch general election, 1971

Dutch general election, 1971

← 1967 28 April 1971 1972 →
All 150 seats to the House of Representatives 76 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	79.1%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Joop den Uyl Gerard Veringa Molly Geertsema Party PvdA KVP VVD Leader since 1966 1971 1969 Last election 37 seats, 23.5% 42 seats, 26.5% 17 seats, 10.7% Seats won 39 35 16 Seat change 2 7 1 Popular vote 1,552,276 1,380,539 653,092 Percentage 24.5% 21.8% 10.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Barend Biesheuvel Hans van Mierlo Berend Jan Udink Party ARP D66 CHU Leader since 1963 1966 1970 Last election 15 seats, 9.9% 7 seats, 4.4% 10 seats, 6.3% Seats won 13 11 7 Seat change 2 4 3 Popular vote 542,780 427,720 354,463 Percentage 8.5% 6.7% 4.4%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Willem Drees, Jr. Marcus Bakker Hette Abma Party DS'70 CPN SGP Leader since 1971 1963 1971 Last election First Election 5 seats, 3.6% 3 seats, 2.0% Seats won 8 6 3 Seat change 8 1 0 Popular vote 336,282 246,299 148,282 Percentage 5.3% 3.8% 2.3%
Seats
Prime Minister before election Piet de Jong KVP Prime Minister Barend Biesheuvel ARP

Piet de Jong
KVP

Barend Biesheuvel
ARP

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 28 April 1971. The Labour Party (PvdA) emerged as the largest party, winning 39 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. The elections were the first without compulsory voting, causing a sharp fall in voter turnout, down to 79.1% from 94.9% in the 1967 elections.Barend Biesheuvel of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) became Prime Minister, leading the first Biesheuvel cabinet.

His cabinet contained a broad coalition of parties, with ministers from ARP, Christian Historical Union (both Protestant), the Catholic People's Party, the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and moderate socialist Democratic Socialists '70 (DS'70), which had just split off from the PvdA.

However, Biesheuvel's government was short-lived; following a decision to cut government spending, DS'70 withdrew from the government, causing it to lose its majority and fresh elections to be held after just a year and seven months.

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