2002 Dutch general election

2002 Dutch general election

← 1998 15 May 2002 2003 →
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	79.06% ( 5.71pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/– CDA Jan Peter Balkenende 27.93 43 +14 LPF Pim Fortuyn (assassinated) 17.00 26 New VVD Hans Dijkstal 15.44 24 −14 PvdA Ad Melkert 15.11 23 −22 GL Paul Rosenmöller 6.95 10 −1 SP Jan Marijnissen 5.90 9 +4 D66 Thom de Graaf 5.10 7 −7 CU Kars Veling 2.54 4 −1 SGP Bas van der Vlies 1.72 2 −1 LN Fred Teeven 1.61 2 +2 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Most voted-for party by municipality Cabinet before Cabinet after Second Kok cabinet PvdA–VVD–D66 First Balkenende cabinet CDA–LPF–VVD

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 15 May 2002.^[1] The elections were amongst the most dramatic in Dutch history,^[2] not just in terms of the electoral results, as they were completely overshadowed by the assassination of leader Pim Fortuyn only nine days before election day.

Fortuyn had led the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party, a right-wing populist party that represented his political views. He had drawn controversy in the campaign with his views on Islam, attacked the government's immigration policies and had also questioned many aspects of government by the previous 'purple' cabinets of Wim Kok, which he blamed for everything from crime to waiting lists in health services. After his death, the LPF made its general election debut with 17% of the vote, coming in second place. The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which took a neutral stance towards Fortuyn, gained seats to become the country's largest political party. On the other hand, the three parties in the government all lost a significant number of seats.

Two months after the election Jan Peter Balkenende formed his first cabinet, with a coalition of the CDA, the LPF and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). However, the LPF was unstable due to its lack of strong leadership and its members' lack of experience; this resulted in the new cabinet resigning before the end of the year.