Dutch general election, 2002

Dutch general election, 2002

← 1998 15 May 2002 2003 →
Turnout	79.4%
Party Leader % Seats ± CDA Jan Peter Balkenende 27.9% 43 +14 LPF Pim Fortuyn (assassinated) 17.0% 26 New VVD Hans Dijkstal 15.5% 24 -14 PvdA Ad Melkert 15.1% 23 -22 GL Paul Rosenmöller 7.0% 10 -1 SP Jan Marijnissen 5.9% 9 +4 D66 Thom de Graaf 5.1% 7 -7 CU Kars Veling 2.5% 4 -1 SGP Bas van der Vlies 1.7% 2 -1 LN Fred Teeven 1.6% 2 +2 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Strongest political party by municipality
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Wim Kok PvdA Jan Peter Balkenende CDA

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 15 May 2002. The elections were amongst the most dramatic in Dutch history, not just in terms of the electoral results, as they were completely overshadowed by the assassination of leader Pim Fortuyn only nine days before election day.

Fortuyn had led the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party, a right-wing populist party that represented his political views. He had drawn controversy in the campaign with his views on Islam, attacked the government's immigration policies and had also questioned many aspects of government by the previous 'purple' cabinets of Wim Kok, which he blamed for everything from crime to waiting lists in health services. After his death, the LPF made their general election debut with 17% of the vote, coming in second place. The Christian Democratic Appeal, who took a neutral stance towards Fortuyn, gained seats to become the country's largest political party. On the other hand, the three parties in the government all lost a significant number of seats.

Two months after the election, Jan Peter Balkenende formed his first cabinet in a coalition with the CDA, LPF and VVD. However, the LPF was unstable due to their lack of strong leadership and their members' lack of experience, resulting in the new cabinet resigning before the end of the year.

Prime Minister Wim Kok had been in power since the 1994 general election in a coalition between his Labour Party (PvdA), the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Democrats 66 (D66). The government, which won a second term in the 1998 general election, was often referred to as a 'purple' coalition due to the participation of the 'red' Labour Party and the 'blue' VVD. During its time in power, the government had often enjoyed high approval ratings and presided over a strong economy. They had also introduced innovative social legislation, such as the introduction of same-sex marriage and euthanasia. Kok announced in December 2001 that he would retire from the premiership at the next election. Ad Melkert then replaced Kok as the party leader. The Christian Democratic Appeal, the largest opposition party, was led by newly elected leader Jan Peter Balkenende. Balkenende was at the time considered to be an interim leader who lacked charisma or experience, but his campaign would ultimately prove relatively successful.