2010 Dutch general election

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2010 Dutch general election

← 2006 9 June 2010 (2010-06-09) 2012 →
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	75.40% ( 4.95pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/– VVD Mark Rutte 20.49 31 +9 PvdA Job Cohen 19.63 30 −3 PVV Geert Wilders 15.45 24 +15 CDA Jan Peter Balkenende 13.61 21 −20 SP Emile Roemer 9.82 15 −10 D66 Alexander Pechtold 6.95 10 +7 GL Femke Halsema 6.67 10 +3 CU André Rouvoet 3.24 5 −1 SGP Kees van der Staaij 1.74 2 0 PvdD Marianne Thieme 1.30 2 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Most voted-for party by municipality Cabinet before Cabinet after Fourth Balkenende cabinet CDA–PvdA–CU First Rutte cabinet VVD–CDA

General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 9 June 2010. This was triggered by the fall of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's fourth cabinet on 20 February with Queen Beatrix accepting the resignation of the Labour Party (PvdA) ministers on 23 February.^[1] The conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), led by Mark Rutte, won the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives while the social-democratic PvdA, led by Job Cohen, came a narrow second. The election was also noted for the rise of the Party for Freedom (PVV), which came third, led by controversial politician Geert Wilders. On the other hand, Balkenende's Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) saw a poor result, losing half its seats (along with popular support) and dropping from first to fourth place. The Socialist Party (SP) also lost seats. Notably, the 31 seats won by the VVD was its most since 1998, and the one-seat margin between the VVD and PvdA is the closest on record.^[2]

After the election, the formation of a new government took 127 days. Both the VVD and the PvdA hoped to have a leading role. VVD talks with the PvdA and other left-wing parties (trying to form a so-called Purple Coalition without Christian parties) broke down; however, Rutte was able to form a right-wing coalition of the VVD and CDA, with the PVV formally making an agreement (gedoogakkoord) to support the government but without holding any cabinet seats. It was the first coalition government not to be led by a Christian democratic or socialist party in 92 years, as well as the first to be led by the VVD. Rutte was sworn in as Prime Minister on 14 October, becoming the first liberal to hold that post since 1918.

The 150 seats of the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal) were contested, and were filled using party-list proportional representation for a nominal four-year term.