GroenLinks–PvdA (), alternatively PvdA–GroenLinks, or GreenLeft–Labour in English, is an alliance between

GroenLinks GroenLinks (, ) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and t ...

(GL) and the Labour Party (PvdA) in the Netherlands. The

political alliance A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

was founded at the national level by party leaders

Lilianne Ploumen Elisabeth Maria Josepha "Lilianne" Ploumen (; born 12 July 1962) is a Dutch politician and activist who served as Leader of the Labour Party from January 2021 until April 2022. She had been a member of the House of Representatives since 2017, a ...

and

Jesse Klaver Jesse Feras Klaver (born 1 May 1986) is a Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2010 and Leader of GroenLinks since 2015. Prior to this, he chaired the youth union of the Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond from ...

during the 2021–2022 Dutch cabinet formation, whereas local alliances between the two parties had already been formed in prior years. The two parties formed a joint

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...

in the

Provincial Council of Zeeland The Provincial Council of Zeeland ( nl, Provinciale Staten van Zeeland), also known as the States of Zeeland, is the provincial council of Zeeland, Netherlands. It forms the legislative body of the province. Its 39 seats are distributed every fou ...

in 29 March 2023, then formed a joint group in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

following the

2023 Dutch Senate election An election to the Dutch Senate was held on 30 May 2023. The 75 members of the Senate were elected by members of the provincial councils and electoral colleges elected two months earlier in provincial and electoral college elections. The four ...

, and formed a joint group in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

on 27 October 2023. Following the collapse of the

fourth Rutte cabinet The Fourth Rutte cabinet is the current Government of the Netherlands. It was inaugurated on 10 January 2022. The cabinet is a continuation of the previous third Rutte cabinet and is formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedo ...

in July 2023, the leaders of PvdA (

Attje Kuiken Attje Harma Kuiken (; born 27 October 1977) is a Dutch politician and former civil servant serving as the leader of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party in the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives since 22 Apr ...

) and GL (Jesse Klaver) announced their intention to contest the

2023 Dutch general election Early general elections are scheduled to be held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2023 to elect the members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives. The election had been expected to be held in 2025, but a snap el ...

as an alliance. Members of both PvdA and GroenLinks voted in favour of the proposal, and confirmed

Frans Timmermans Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis''. Given name * Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diploma ...

lead candidate In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, it is ...

in August.

History

Informal cooperations

Prior to the formation of a national alliance, the Labour Party (PvdA) and GroenLinks (GL) had already formed local alliances in some municipalities; in the 2022 municipal elections, the two parties participated with a joint list in 50 local municipalities. In addition, they had formed

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political party, political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand ...

s () in multiple national elections, such as the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

and the 2010 general election.

The concept behind the alliance

The idea of a possible merger of centre-left parties in the Netherlands, including the PvdA and GL, is not a new idea. As early as 2004,

Job Cohen Marius Job Cohen (; born 18 October 1947) is a retired Dutch politician and jurist who served as Mayor of Amsterdam from 2001 to 2010 and Leader of the Labour Party (PvdA) from 2010 to 2012. Cohen studied Law at the University of Groningen obt ...

, then

mayor of Amsterdam Below is a list of mayors (Dutch: ''burgemeesters'') of Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands. The city had four burgomasters, serving four years. Since 1389 the mayors were elected on 1 February. In the 17th and 18th century, a new mayor was ele ...

and later PvdA national leader, called for a merger of the PvdA, GL and

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(SP), suggesting "Progressive People's Party" as possible name. That name refers to an even earlier proposal with the same name that was discussed in the 1970s of the PvdA,

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

(D66) and the

Political Party of Radicals The Political Party of Radicals ( nl, Politieke Partij Radikalen, PPR) was a progressive Christian and green political party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to fo ...

(PPR), one of GL's forerunners, to merge into a single party. This, however, never materialised. Following the heavy defeat of the PvdA in the

2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November ...

, in which the party went from 25 per cent to less than six per cent of the vote, discussions about a possible merger began to rise again. With this electoral demise, the left-of-centre political landscape in the Netherlands - including D66, GL, SP, the

Party for the Animals The Party for the Animals ( nl, Partij voor de Dieren; PvdD) is a List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. Since 2019, the PvdD's political lead ...

(PvdD), Christian Union (CU),

Volt Netherlands Volt Netherlands (, usually simply called Volt) is a social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. It is the Dutch branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level. History Oprichting Volt - speech Reinier van ...

DENK Denk may refer to: People *Jeremy Denk (born 1970), American classical pianist * Michael K. Denk, Canadian professor of chemistry * Paula Denk (1908–1978), German actress *Ralph Denk (born 1973), German cyclist and cycling manager *Ulrike Denk ( ...

and

BIJ1 BIJ1 (; ), formerly known as Article 1 (), is a political party in the Netherlands. It was founded in Amsterdam in 2016 by Sylvana Simons, a television personality who was formerly connected to another party, Denk. BIJ1 aligns itself as an ant ...

- fragmented. In both the 2017 and 2021 general elections, there was no left-leaning party big enough to be the main contender to Prime Minister

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2006. After a business career working for Unilever ...

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD) from the left. Many left-leaning voters in the Netherlands have a habit of voting tactically for the largest left-leaning force in an attempt to prevent a right-leaning party from becoming the largest party. Examples of this are the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and 2003 general elections when voters from other left-leaning parties flocked to the Labour Party. When the PvdA and GL received a disappointing election result in the 2021 general election (5.7 per cent and 5.0 per cent respectively), calls for a merger increased. In the first week after the elections, members from both parties founded the movement Red-Green ( nl, Rood-Groen) led by Frank van de Wolde calling for more cooperation between the two parties and an eventual merger. This movement has tabled motions in multiple party member meetings of both the PvdA and GL that pushed the parties towards a deeper cooperation. A list of these motions can be found below, together with the other membership votes.

2021–2022 cabinet formation

During the 2021–2022 cabinet formation, Lilianne Ploumen (PvdA) and Jesse Klaver (GL) indicated that they only wanted to join a coalition government if the other party also joined, thereby forming an alliance in the negotiations. In August 2021, PvdA members passed multiple motions tabled by the Red-Green movement that forced the party to not enter government without GL and further steps to strengthen the cooperation.

(VVD) leader

strongly opposed forming a coalition with both the PvdA and GL, and referred to the alliance as a 'left-wing cloud' (). Following their exclusion from the

, the Labour Party and GroenLinks decided to intensify co-operation as

opposition parties Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

2023 provincial and Senate elections

The PvdA and GL participated in the 2023 provincial elections separately, but formed a joint list in

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

. After the 2023 Senate election, in which the members of the Senate were elected by the members of the

provincial councils A province is a geographic region within Gaelic games, consisting of several County (Gaelic games), counties of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and originally based on the historic four provinces of Ireland as they were set in 1610. Provin ...

and electoral colleges, the two parties formed a joint group in the senate. With fourteen seats, the PvdA–GroenLinks group became the second-largest senate group behind the

Farmer–Citizen Movement The Farmer–Citizen Movement (, BBB) is an agrarian political party in the Netherlands. It is headquartered in Deventer, Overijssel. The current party leader is Caroline van der Plas, who founded it in 2019. Unlike most of its agrarian counter ...

2023 general election

Following the collapse of the

on 7 July 2023, PvdA leader Attje Kuiken and GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver announced their intention to contest the

, to be held on 22 November, with a joint

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

and

. From 10 to 17 July 2023, both parties held an internal referendum on this proposal. Approximately 88% of PvdA members and 92% of GL members voted in favour of participating in the election with a joint GL/PvdA list. Three days later, former

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

(PvdA) declared his intention to become lead candidate for the alliance.Toby Sterling and Kate Abnett (20 July 2023)
EU climate chief Timmermans to run in Dutch election
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

''. His candidacy was met with widespread approval from both parties. On 22 August 2023, during a joint GroenLinks–PvdA party meeting, Timmermans was confirmed as lead candidate with 92 percent of the vote. He resigned from his posts at the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

on the same day. PvdA–GL finished the election with 25 seats and 15.75% of the vote, finishing second to the right-wing

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

(PVV) but ahead of the governing

(VVD). The coalition hoped to form a government with New Social Contract and other, smaller parties like the

(PvdD). Timmermans ruled out forming a government with PVV and VVD, and admitted that it was "extremely unlikely" that PvdA-GL would be in cabinet.

Possible merger

There has been an ongoing discussion about a possible merger of the two parties into a single party. Proponents – including former Labour Party leaders

and

Diederik Samsom Diederik Maarten Samsom (; born 10 July 1971) is a Dutch environmentalist and retired politician who served the Labour Party (''Partij van de Arbeid'' PvdA) from 2012 to 2016. He was the first leader in the 70-year history of the PvdA to have b ...

and Labour Party prominent and former health minister

Hedy d'Ancona Hedwig "Hedy" d'Ancona (; born 1 October 1937) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and political activist. d'Ancona applied at the University of Amsterdam in June 1956 majoring in Sociology and obtaining a Bachelor of Soc ...

, and GroenLinks prominents

Bram van Ojik Abraham "Bram" van Ojik (born 22 September 1954) is Dutch politician and diplomat of the GreenLeft (GL) party and activist. Since 23 March 2017 he has been a member of the House of Representatives. He previously served in the House from 1993 to ...

Andrée van Es Andrée Christine van Es (born 26 January 1953 in The Hague) is a Politics of the Netherlands, Dutch politician. She is currently chairwoman of the Dutch national UNESCO committee. She was previously wethouder (alderman) in the executive of the ...

and

Bas de Gaay Fortman Bastiaan "Bas" de Gaay Fortman (born 6 November 1937) is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Political Party of Radicals (PPR) and later the GreenLeft (GL) party and economist. Career before politics After attending public elementar ...

– have shown support for a merger by becoming a member of each other's party. They have also founded the activist group 'RedGreen' () to advocate for the creation of a "strong, leftist movement" for "social, green and righteous politics". Opponents, on the other hand, have expressed concern for the "ideological dilution" and possible loss of electorate as a consequence of the parties' merger.

Internal referendums and motions

Electoral results

House of Representatives

Provincial elections

Local alliances

Albrandswaard Albrandswaard () is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of as of , and covers an area of of which is water. The municipality of Albrandswaard consists of the village o ...

(''GroenLinks–PvdA'') *

Bergeijk Bergeijk () is a municipality and town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. It consists of an area of and had a population of in . It is one of 21 municipalities, including Eindhoven, that make up the Eindhoven Region Co ...

(''GroenLinks–PvdA'') *

Bernheze Bernheze () is a municipality in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. It was formed as a rename of Heesch in 1995. The municipalities of Heeswijk-Dinther and Nistelrode had merged into Heesch in 1994. Etymology The municipa ...

(''Progressief Bernheze'') *

Best Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

(''PvdA–GroenLinks'') *

Blaricum Blaricum () is a municipality and village in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Gooiland and part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (Metropoolregio Amsterdam). It is known for its many monumental farm buil ...

(''PvdA–GroenLinks'') *

Boxtel Boxtel () is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. The name derives from Buchestelle and is presumably a combination of 'stelle' (Dutch for stable, safe place) and (deer) buck.2019. Etymologiebank.Nl. Accessed April 27 2019 This i ...

(''PvdA–GroenLinks'') *

Bunnik Bunnik () is a municipality and village in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands. The recorded history of the village dates back nearly 2000 years, when the Romans constructed a fort at Fectio (now Vechten) with a harbour facing the river Rhine, w ...

(''Perspectief 21'') *

Buren Buren () is a town and municipality in the Betuwe region of the Netherlands. Buren has 27,168 inhabitants as of 1 January 2022. Geography Buren is located in Gelderland, a province of the Netherlands. It is part of the landscape of Betuwe, a ve ...

(''PvdA–GroenLinks'') *

De Ronde Venen De Ronde Venen (; ) is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. On 1 January 2011, the municipality of Abcoude was amalgamated into De Ronde Venen. Population centres The municipality of De Ronde Venen co ...

(''PvdA–GroenLinks'') *

Dinkelland Dinkelland () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the eastern Netherlands. For a short time it was known as Denekamp (one of its component towns) until it was renamed in 2002. Population centres Notable people * Johan Jon ...

(''Progressief Dinkelland'') *

Eersel Eersel () is a municipality and a town in southern Netherlands in the province of North Brabant. Eersel is situated in the Campine (Kempen) area. Eersel is part of the Acht Zaligheden (Eight Beatitudes) and known for its attractive market. Thi ...

(''PvdA–GroenLinks'') *

Etten-Leur Etten-Leur () is a municipality in the Dutch province North Brabant. Its name is a combination of the two villages from which the municipality originally acrose: Etten and Leur. History The villages were always part of one municipality, originally ...

(''GroenLinks–PvdA'') *

Goes Goes () is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands on Zuid-Beveland, in the province of Zeeland. The city of Goes has approximately 27,000 residents. History Goes was founded in the 10th century on the edge of a creek: de Korte ...

(''PvdA–GroenLinks'') *

Hattem Hattem () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in . The municipality includes the hamlet of 't Zand. Name origin The name “Hattem” is a typical farmyard name. The exact origin of “H ...

(''PvdA–GroenLinks'') *

Heusden Heusden () is a municipality and a town in the South of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden, merged with ...

(''GroenLinks–PvdA'') * Koggenland (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Krimpenerwaard (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Land van Cuijk (''GroenLinks–PvdA'') * Leiderdorp (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Leusden (''GroenLinks–PvdA'') * Lisse (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Meierijstad (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Middelburg, Zeeland, Middelburg (''GroenLinks–PvdA'') * Noord-Beveland (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Nuenen (''GroenLinks–PvdA'') * Nunspeet (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Oegstgeest (''Progressief Oegstgeest'') * Opmeer (''Opmeer Progressief'') * Peel en Maas (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Pijnacker-Nootdorp (''Progressief Pijnacker-Nootdorp'') * Ridderkerk (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Rijssen-Holten (''SamenLokaal GroenLinks–PvdA'') * Roerdalen (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Son en Breugel (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Sint-Michielsgestel (''GroenLinks–PvdA'') * Stede Broec (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Tholen (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Twenterand (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Tytsjerksteradiel (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Veere (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Veldhoven (''GroenLinks–PvdA'') * Voorne aan Zee (''GroenLinks–PvdA'') * Voorst (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Vught (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Waddinxveen (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Wijdemeren (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Woerden (''Progressief Woerden'') * Woudenberg (''PvdA–GroenLinks'') * Utrechtse Heuvelrug (''OPEN'') * Zuidplas (''PvdA–GroenLinks'')

Dissolved local alliances

* Geldrop-Mierlo * Reeuwijk * Ubbergen * Zaltbommel * Zeewolde

Notes

References

{{Authority control Labour Party (Netherlands), * GroenLinks, * Centre-left parties in Europe Political party alliances in the Netherlands Social democratic parties in the Netherlands Green political parties in the Netherlands Local political parties in the Netherlands Republican parties Republicanism in the Netherlands Political parties established in 2023

History

Informal cooperations

The concept behind the alliance

2021–2022 cabinet formation

2023 provincial and Senate elections

2023 general election

Possible merger

Internal referendums and motions

Electoral results

House of Representatives

Provincial elections

Local alliances

Dissolved local alliances

See also

Notes

References