The 2009 European Parliament election in the Netherlands took place on 4 June 2009. Seventeen parties competed in a D'Hondt type election for the available 25 seats (down from 27). For the first time, all Dutch residents of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba were also entitled to vote in the election.

Background

Political co-operation

The Christian Union and SGP formed a common list Christian Union-SGP for the European Parliament election. Moreover, several parties formed an

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 parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

: # CDA/ European People's Party and Christian Union-SGP, with 1,223,773 votes #

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberalRudy Andeweg, Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingsto ...

/ European Liberal-Democrats and Democrats 66, with 1,034,065 votes # PvdA/ European Social-Democrats and

GreenLeft GroenLinks (, ) is a Green politics, green List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four Left-wing politics, left-wing parties: the Communist Party of th ...

, with 952,711 votes All three alliances would be eligible for a remainder seat, because all the parties involved won a seat in the European Parliament. Without the alliance between the Dutch Labour Party and Greenleft, GreenLeft would have only two seats and PVV would have five seats. The other electoral alliances had no effect on the overall seats awarded.Uitslag verkiezing van de leden van het Europees Parlement van 4 juni 2009
Turnout in Netherlands Antilles and Aruba

New electorate

The Netherlands Antilles and Aruba were granted the right to vote in the European Parliament election by a verdict of the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

which stated that it is illegal to differentiate in law between people with Dutch nationality in Europe and outside. The government granted all persons of Dutch nationality

voting right Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

s for European elections. Before the verdict, only people who had lived in the Netherlands for 10 years or longer were allowed to vote. This ruling increased the number of people entitled to vote by 210,000. Only 20,944 people registered to vote from the islands in this election. The turnout of registered voters in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba was 77% (rest of the world 66%.) This new voting right does not change the position of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. They are not considered to be part of the European Union and they do not need to adopt European law. Before this election, people placed under a guardian were not allowed to vote. Usually a person has the status of guardian because the

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

is incapable of caring for their own interests. A ruling of the

decided that this was not allowed under the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, fr ...

. It is not known how many people this affected, as there is no central register for individuals under guardianship.

Treaty of Lisbon

Under the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member s ...

, the Netherlands was to get a 26th seat in the European Parliament. Because this treaty had not yet been ratified by all member states at the time of the elections, this seat could not be given to a party at that time. The State Secretary for the Interior, Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, made a proposal for allocating it if the Lisbon treaty were to be ratified by all member states, but this had not been accepted by parliament at the time of the election. According to the proposal made by the government, the seat would be awarded to the Party for Freedom. The Party for the Animals contested this proposal, claiming that the minister ignored part of the Electoral Council's opinion. They raised their objection after the official results came in. Under the Electoral Council's opinion, the Party for the Animals should have gained the seat. Several parties in the States-General had already stated that this changed the election rules after the elections, and, if the rules were to be changed, the

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

had missed their chance by not contesting them before the elections. They had thus de facto agreed to the proposal. Advice had been requested from the

on the matter. If the election had been for 26 seats rather than 25 from the start, the 26th seat would have been awarded to the Party for Freedom. On 9 October, the Dutch cabinet announced that the 26th seat would be awarded to the Party for Freedom. This would give them a total of 5 seats when the Lisbon treaty came into effect.

Treaty of Nice

At present, the exact number of seats allocated to each country is determined by the Treaty of Nice, and is adjusted by the accession treaty of each new member. This last adjustment occurred with the enlargement in 2007. Hence no change to the seats occurs without ratification by all member states. According to the treaties, the maximum number of members in the Parliament is 732. However, allocation does not take into account any enlargements to the European Union expected during the Parliamentary term. Hence, when Romania and Bulgaria joined the union in 2007, the number of seats temporarily rose to 785, but later dropped back to 736 at time of the 2009 election. Because of this, the Netherlands had 27 seats in 2004 but only 25 in 2009.

Numbering of the candidates list

Results

The

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

(CDA) remained the biggest party (five seats), despite losing two seats. The biggest winners were the Party for Freedom (up four seats) and Democrats 66 (up two). The biggest loser was the Labour Party, which lost more than half its seats (down four). Voter turnout was 36.75%, a little lower than in 2004 (39.26%). The highest turnout was in

Rozendaal Rozendaal () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. The town, next to Arnhem and Velp, is known for the Rozendaal Castle (''Kasteel Rosendael'') and its water fountain follies (''bedriegertjes''). ...

(65.7%) and the lowest in

Rucphen Rucphen () is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands between Roosendaal and Etten-Leur, south of the railway, but without a train-station. Population centres Topography ''Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Rucphen, Ju ...

(22.3%).

Seat assignment

Electoral quota

The electoral quota is the number of votes needed for one seat. It is the total valid number of votes divided by the number of seats.
For this election it was 4,553,864 valid votes, divided by 25 seats.
The electoral quota was established as: 182,154

Electoral alliances

The results of the electoral alliances. Both parties of both alliances reached the electoral quota and are eligible for remainder seats.

Assigning full seats

Full seats are assigned by number of votes divided by the electoral quota. Electoral alliances are marked as a letter, instead of a number. Any seats left over are not yet assigned to a specific party.

Remainder seats

The remaining, or left over, seats are awarded sequentially to the lists with the highest average number of votes per seat. Only lists that reached the electoral quota are eligible. * CDA – European People's Party and Christian Union-SGP electoral alliance is awarded 1 seat. * P.v.d.A./European Social Democrats and

electoral alliance is awarded 1 seat. * VVD - European Liberal-Democrats and Democrats 66 (D66) electoral alliance is awarded 1 seat. * SP (Socialist Party) is awarded 1 seat. * PVV (Party for Freedom) is not awarded any seat, but will get remainder seat 5 when the Treaty of Lisbon is ratified by all EU member states.

Awarding seats within electoral alliances

To decide the seats per party for electoral alliances, the combination quota is first determined. Combination quota for electoral alliances are determined by the total number valid votes divided by the awarded seats. The party with the most votes left after the full seats are assigned gets the seat remaining. List A
For list A, there were 1,223,773 votes divided by 7 seats. The combination quota was established as: 174,824 votes List B
For list B, there were 952,711 votes divided by 6 seats. The combination quota was established as: 158,785 votes List C
For list C, there were 1,034,065 votes divided by 6 seats. The combination quota was established as: 172,344 votes Summary: * The CDA – European People's Party list was awarded 5 seats. * The Christian Union-SGP list was awarded 2 seats. * The P.v.d.A./European Social Democrats list was awarded 3 seats. * The

list was awarded 3 seats. * The VVD - European Liberal-Democrats list was awarded 3 seats. * The Democrats 66 (D66) list was awarded 3 seats.

European groups

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe became the biggest group in the Netherlands, after an electoral loss for the parties in

European People's Party–European Democrats The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEPs ...

and European Socialists group. The

European Greens–European Free Alliance European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

lost a seat, despite

winning a seat. This was because Europe Transparent, which sat in the European Greens-EFA group, did not take part in this election. Newcomer Party for Freedom is not part of a European group and is under Non-Inscrits. The Christian Union-SGP was in the Independence/Democracy group, but this group did not meet the requirements to be a group in the European Parliament and was dissolved. The Christian Union and SGP entered talks with the European Conservatives after the elections. The SGP was asked to change their stance on women's issues, but declined. After that the Christian Union joined the European Conservatives on its own. After 25 years of co-operation, the Christian Union and Reformed Political Party split into two groups in the European parliament. , style="text-align:center;" colspan="11" , , - , style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;" colspan="3", European group !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , Seats 2004 !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , Seats 2009 !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , Change , - , style="background-color:gold;" width=0.3em, , style="text-align:left;" , Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe , style="text-align:left;" , ALDE , style="text-align:right;" , 5 , style="text-align:right;" , 6 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , European People's Party , style="text-align:left;" , EPP , style="text-align:right;" , 7 , style="text-align:right;" , 5 , style="text-align:right;" , 2 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats , style="text-align:left;" , S&D , style="text-align:right;" , 7 , style="text-align:right;" , 3 , style="text-align:right;" , 4 , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

The Greens–European Free Alliance ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, style="text-align:left;" , Greens-EFA , style="text-align:right;" , 4 , style="text-align:right;" , 3 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

European United Left–Nordic Green Left European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

, style="text-align:left;" , EUL-NGL , style="text-align:right;" , 2 , style="text-align:right;" , 2 , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , European Conservatives and Reformists , style="text-align:left;" , ECR , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Europe of Freedom and Democracy Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament. The group was formed following the 2009 European parliamentary election, mostly composed of elements of the Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and ...

, style="text-align:left;" , EFD , style="text-align:right;" , 2 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Non-Inscrits , style="text-align:left;" , NI , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , 4(+1) , style="text-align:right;" , 4(+1) , - , width="350" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3", , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 27 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 25(+1) , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 2(+1)

Elected members

Twenty members were elected by preference vote. Twenty-four people got this amount, but not all could be appointed because either the party did not get enough seats or they got no seats. Below are all the elected members of European parliament for the Netherlands. Members elected by preference votes are in bold. The following 25 MEPs were officially announced by the Central Electoral Commission on 11 June 2009:

# Wim van de Camp, 579,775 votes ( top candidate) # Ria Oomen-Ruijten, 70,388 votes #

Corien Wortmann-Kool C.M. (Corien) Wortmann-Kool (born 27 June 1959 in Oud-Alblas) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (Christen-Democratisch Appèl) who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2014. She has a background in ...

, 48,270 votes # Esther de Lange, 43,406 votes # Lambert van Nistelrooij, 41,846 votes Party for Freedom #

Barry Madlener Barry Madlener (born 6 January 1969) is a Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives since 2012. A member of the Party for Freedom (PVV), he was first elected to the House of Repr ...

, 372,060 votes ( top candidate) #

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

, 334,846 votes (has announced that he will not claim his seat)Laurenca Stassen replaces Geert Wilders in EP
TcTubantia (in Dutch) # Louis Bontes, 6,751 votes # Daniël van der Stoep, 5,650 votes

Dutch Labour Party The Labour Party ( nl, Partij van de Arbeid, , abbreviated as ''PvdA'', or ''P van de A'', ) is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1946 as a merger of the Social Democratic Workers' Party, the Free ...

Thijs Berman Thijs Berman (born 26 September 1957 in Coevorden) is a former journalist. Between 2004 and 2014, he was a Dutch politician and a Member of the European Parliament. Biography Berman was a correspondent in Paris and Moscow for Dutch weekly De ...

, 372,060 votes ( top candidate) #

Emine Bozkurt Emine Bozkurt (born 9 August 1967) is a Dutch politician of Turkish descent and Member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2014. She is a member of the Dutch Labour Party, which is part of the Party of European Socialists. In the Eur ...

, 66,385 votes # Judith Merkies, 18,553 votes

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 ...

# Hans van Baalen, 367,796 votes ( top candidate) #

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert Jeanine Antoinette Hennis-Plasschaert (born 7 April 1973) is a Dutch politician and diplomat serving as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq since 1 November 2018. She is a member of t ...

, 52,184 votes # Toine Manders, 34,973 votes Democrats 66 #

Sophie in 't Veld Sophia Helena "Sophie" in 't Veld (born 13 September 1963) is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 party. She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2004, and reelected in 2009, 2014 and 2019. She was her party's top candidate fo ...

, 433,957 votes ( top candidate) # Marietje Schaake, 18,662 votes # Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, 18,107 votes

# Judith Sargentini, 321,744 votes ( top candidate) #

Bas Eickhout Bas Eickhout (born 8 October 1976) is a Dutch politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since the 2009 elections. He is a member of the GreenLeft, part of the European Green Party. Education and early career Eickhout ...

, 13,782 votes # Marije Cornelissen, 14,486 votes

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 t ...

# Dennis de Jong, 194,359 votes ( top candidate) #

Kartika Liotard Kartika Tamara Liotard (June 26, 1971 – August 1, 2020) was a Dutch politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2004. She was formerly a member of the Socialist Party, was vice-chair of the EUL–NGL group, and sat ...

, 32,426 votes ChristianUnion – Reformed Political Party #

Peter van Dalen Peter van Dalen (born 3 September 1958) is a Dutch politician serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2009. He is a member of the Christian Union, which used to be part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), b ...

(ChristianUnion), 209,947 votes ( top candidate) # Bastiaan Belder (Reformed Political Party), 53,450 votes ''Members not elected, but enough preference votes:'' * Christian Democratic Appeal – Maria Martens 38,781 votes. (party did not win enough seats) * Socialist Party – Nicole van Gemert 23,662 votes. (party did not win enough seats) * Party for Animals – Natasja Oerlemans 115,472 votes and Marianne Thieme 18,314 votes (party did not win any seat)

MEPs in 2009–2014

Below is a list of members of the European Parliament for the period 2009–2014 as a result of this election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:European Parliament Election, 2009 (Netherlands)

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

2009

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...