People's Party For Freedom And Democracy

The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, is a party of the centre-right that tries to promote private enterprise and economic liberalism.

History

Founding

In 1947, the Freedom Party led by Dirk Stikker and the Committee-Oud led by Pieter Oud started negotiations with the goal of a merger. The conservative liberal Freedom Party was a continuation of the Liberal State Party, but was disappointed with only six seats in the 1946 general election. The Committee-Oud was a group of former members of the social liberal Free-thinking Democratic League (VDB), who had been dissatisfied with the social-democratic character of the Labour Party (PvdA), in which the VDB had merged with the Social Democratic Workers' Party as part of the breakthrough movement. As a result, the part was founded on 24 January 1948.

1948–1963: Oud

Between 1948 and 1952, the VVD took part in the broad cabinets led by the Labour Party Prime Minister Willem Drees. The party was a junior partner with only eight seats to the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and Labour Party, which both had around thirty seats (out of 100). The Drees cabinets laid the foundation for the welfare state and decolonisation of the Dutch East Indies. In the general election of 1952 the VVD gained one seat, but did not join the government. In the general election of 1956 it increased its total, receiving thirteen seats, but was stayed out of government during the cabinet formation, until the general election of 1959, which was held early because of a cabinet crisis. This time it gained nineteen seats, and the party entered government alongside the Protestant Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP), the Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the KVP.

1963–1971: Toxopeus and Geertsema

In 1963, Oud retired from politics, and was succeeded by the Minister of the Interior Edzo Toxopeus. With Toxopeus as its leader, the VVD lost three seats in the 1963 election, but remained in government after the 1963 cabinet formation. In 1962, a substantial group of disillusioned VVD members founded the Liberal Democratic Centre (, LDC) which was intended to introduce a more twentieth-century liberal direction to the classical liberal VVD.

In 1966, frustrated with their hopeless efforts, left-wing LDC members joined a new political party, the Democrats 66 (D66). In 1965, there also occurred a conflict between VVD Ministers and their counterparts from the KVP and ARP in the Marijnen cabinet. The cabinet fell; without an election taking place, it was replaced by a KVP–ARP–PvdA cabinet under Jo Cals, which itself fell during the Night of Schmelzer the following year. In the subsequent 1967 election the VVD remained relatively stable and entered the De Jong cabinet.

During this period the VVD had loose ties with other liberal organisations; together, these formed the neutral pillar. They included the liberal papers '' Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant'' and ''Algemeen Handelsblad'', the broadcaster AVRO and the employers' organisation VNO.

1971–1994

In the Dutch general election of 1971, the VVD lost one seat and the cabinet lost its majority. A cabinet was formed by the Christian democratic parties, the VVD and the Labour Party offshoot Democratic Socialists '70. This cabinet collapsed after a few months. Meanwhile, the charismatic young MP Hans Wiegel had attracted considerable attention. He became the new leader of the VVD. In 1971, he became the new parliamentary leader, and he was appointed lead candidate in 1972. Under Wiegel's leadership, the party oriented towards a new political course, aiming to reform the welfare state and cut taxes. Wiegel did not shrink from conflict with the Labour Party and the trade unions. With this new course came a new electorate: working-class and middle-class voters who, because of individualisation and depillarisation, were more easy to attract.

The course proved to be profitable: in the heavily polarised general election of 1972, the VVD gained six seats. The VVD was kept out of government by the social democratic and Christian democratic Den Uyl cabinet. Although the ties between the VVD and other organisations within the neutral pillar became ever looser, the number of neutral organisations friendly to the VVD grew. The TROS and later Veronica, new broadcasters which entered the Netherlands Public Broadcasting, were friendly to the VVD. In 1977, the VVD again won six seats, bringing its total to twenty-eight seats. When lengthy formation talks between the social democrats and Christian democrats eventually led to a final break between the two parties, the VVD formed cabinet with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), with a majority of only two seats.

In the general election of 1981, the VVD lost two seats and its partner the CDA lost even more. The cabinet was without a majority and a CDA, Labour and D66 cabinet was formed, falling after only a few months. In 1982, Hans Wiegel left Parliament to become Queen's Commissioner in Friesland and was succeeded by Ed Nijpels. In the general election of 1982 Nijpels' VVD gained ten seats, bringing its total up to 36. Once again, it formed the First Lubbers cabinet with the CDA. The cabinet began a programme of radical reform of the welfare state, which is still in place today. The VVD lost nine seats in the 1986 election but the cabinet nonetheless retained its majority. The losses were blamed on Nijpels, who stood down as leader of the VVD. He was succeeded by Joris Voorhoeve. In 1989 the CDA–VVD cabinet fell over a minor issue, and the VVD lost five seats in the subsequent election, leaving only twenty-two. The VVD was kept out of government, and Voorhoeve stood down and was succeeded by Frits Bolkestein.

1994–2006

Bolkestein's VVD was one of the winners of the general election of 1994: the party gained nine seats. It formed an unprecedented government with the Labour Party (PvdA) and the social liberal Democrats 66. The so-called "purple cabinet" led by Wim Kok

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases