Dutch general election, 2010

Dutch general election, 2010

← 2006 9 June 2010 (2010-06-09) 2012 →
Turnout	75.4%
Party Leader % Seats ± VVD Mark Rutte 20.5% 31 +9 PvdA Job Cohen 19.6% 30 -3 PVV Geert Wilders 15.4% 24 +15 CDA Jan Peter Balkenende 13.6% 21 -20 SP Emile Roemer 9.8% 15 -10 D66 Alexander Pechtold 6.9% 10 +7 GL Femke Halsema 6.7% 10 +3 CU André Rouvoet 3.2% 5 -1 SGP Kees van der Staaij 1.7% 2 0 PvdD Marianne Thieme 1.3% 2 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Strongest political party by municipality
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Jan Peter Balkenende CDA Mark Rutte VVD

General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. It was triggered by the fall of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's fourth cabinet on 20 February with Queen Beatrix accepting the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February. The conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), led by Mark Rutte, won the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives while the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA), led by Job Cohen, came a narrow second. It was also noted for the rise of the controversial politician Geert Wilders and the Party for Freedom (PVV), which came in third. On the other hand, the election was a poor result for Balkenende and his Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which lost half its seats and dropped from first to fourth place. The Socialist Party (SP) also lost seats. Notably, the 31 seats won by the VVD is the fewest in years, and the one-seat margin between the VVD and PvdA is the closest on record.

After the election, it took 127 days to form a new government, with both the VVD and PvdA hoping to have a leading role. Talks with the PvdA and other left-wing parties (trying to form a so-called Purple Coalition without Christian parties) broke down and Rutte was able to form a right-wing coalition of the VVD and CDA, with the PVV formally making an agreement (gedoogakkoord) to support the government but without holding any cabinet seats. It was the first coalition government not to be led by a Christian democratic or socialist party in 92 years, as well as the first to be led by the VVD. Rutte was sworn in as Prime Minister on 14 October, becoming the first liberal to hold that post since 1918.