2002 PvdA Leadership Election

The 2002 Labour Party leadership election was called to elect the new Leader of the Labour Party after incumbent

Ad Melkert Adrianus Petrus Wilhelmus "Ad" Melkert (; born 12 February 1956) is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Labour Party (PvdA) who has served as a Member of the Council of State since 20 January 2016. Melkert studied Political science at the U ...

announced his retirement from national politics.

Wouter Bos Wouter Jacob Bos (; (born 14 July 1963) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and businessman. Bos attended the Christian Gymnasium in Zeist from June 1975 until July 1980 and applied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam i ...

the former

Undersecretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is al ...

for

Finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

beat the former Speaker of the House of Representatives

Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven (born 2 August 1943) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and librarian. Biography Before entering politics Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven was born in Noordwolde in the Frisian municipality of Weststellin ...

, former

Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations ( nl, Minister van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties) is the head of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and a member of the Cabinet and the Council of Ministers. The in ...

Klaas de Vries and

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

professor Jouke de Vries. Between 6 and 12 November 2002 the 60,000 members of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

Labour Party (PvdA) could vote for their preferred candidate for top candidate for the 2003 general election. These elections were part of the reforms implemented by party chairperson

Ruud Koole Ruud and Rud are surnames of Norwegian origin. Both are also Norwegian place names of numerous farmsteads named Rud or Ruud from Old Norse ''ruð'' meaning clearing. Ruud is also a Dutch masculine given name meaning "famous wolf" although it is also ...

, after the 2002 elections. In addition to the top candidate for the elections to 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 ...

, the top candidate for 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 ...

and leaders of the provincial councils were elected. All PvdA members could vote by mail or telephone. The candidates for the election were

, former State Secretary for finance, the former President of the

Jeltsje van Nieuwenhoven Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven (born 2 August 1943) is a retired Netherlands, Dutch politician of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party (PvdA) and librarian. Biography Before entering politics Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven was born in Noordwolde, Frie ...

, the former Minister of Home Affairs, Klaas de Vries and the Professor of

Jouke de Vries. The first three were member of the House of Representatives, while Jouke de Vries was an outsider candidate. Wouter Bos was the first to announce his candidacy, just after the fall of the

Second Balkenende cabinet The second Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 27 May 2003 until 7 July 2006. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the conservative-liberal Peop ...

. On 29 September 2002 Klaas de Vries announced his candidacy, claiming that the elections would be a sham if only Wouter Bos was a serious candidate. On 22 October, interim party-leader Jeltsje van Nieuwenhoven finally announced her candidacy. The elections were won by a landslide by Wouter Bos. He won with 60% of the votes and a margin of 30%. 54% of the PvdA members voted. Following the elections the PvdA made miraculous resurgence in the 2003 general elections, nearly doubling its seats and votes, this is partially credited to the charisma of Wouter Bos and the reform of the party under Ruud Koole {{DEFAULTSORT:Labour Party (Netherlands) leadership election, 2002 Labour Party (Netherlands) 2002 elections in the Netherlands Political party leadership elections in the Netherlands Labour Party (Netherlands) leadership election