European Parliament election, 2009 (Netherlands)

Political cooperation

The ChristianUnion and SGP formed a common list ChristenUnie/SGP for the European Parliament election. Moreover, several parties formed an electoral alliance:

1. CDA/European People's Party and ChristianUnion/SGP, with 1.223.773 votes
2. VVD/European Liberal-Democrats and Democrats 66, with 1.034.065 votes
3. PvdA/European Social-Democrats and GreenLeft, with 952.711 votes

All three alliances would be liable for a remainder seat, because all parties involved got a seat in the European parliament. Without the alliance between the Dutch Labour Party and Greenleft, GreenLeft would have only two seats and PVV five. The rest of the electoral alliances had no effect on the overall result.

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 which stated that it is illegal to make a difference in law between people with Dutch nationality in Europe and outside. The government granted all persons of Dutch nationality voting rights 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 right, does not change the position of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. They are not part of the European Union and they do not need to adopt European law.

Before this election, people placed under a guardian where not allowed to vote. Usually a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for their own interests. A ruling of the Council of State decided that this was not allowed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is not known how many people this affected, as there is no central register.

Treaty of Lisbon

According to the Treaty of Lisbon, the Netherlands will 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 this time. The State Ssecretary for the Interior, Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, made a proposal for allocating it if the Lisbon treaty were to be ratified by all members states, but it had not been accepted by parliament at the time of the election. According to the proposal made by the government, the seat will be awarded to the Party for Freedom.

The Party for the Animals is contesting the proposal, claiming that the minister ignored part of the Electoral Council's opinion. They raised their objection after the official results came in. {Undser the Electoral Council's opinion, the Party for Animals would have gained the seat. Several parties in the States-General have already stated that this is changing the election rules after the elections and, if they wanted to change the rules, the opposition had missed their chance by not contesting them before the elections. They had thus de facto agreed to the proposal. Advice has been asked from the Council of State on the matter. If the election had been for 26 seats rather than 25 from the start, the seat would have been awarded to the Party for Freedom. On 9 October the Dutch cabinet announced that the 26th seat will be awarded to the Party for Freedom. Giving them a total of 5 seats when the Lisbon treaty comes 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 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 takes no account of any enlargements expected during the Parliamentary term. Hence, when Romania and Bulgaria joined in 2007, the number of seats temporarily rose to 785, but drop back to 736 at the 2009 election. Because of this, the Netherlands had 27 in 2004 but only 25 in 2009.

Turnout

Turnout was with 36,9% a little lower than in 2004 . (39,26%) A total of 12,378,500 people were entitled to vote. Of these 4,573,743 did so.

Highest turnout in municipalities:

1. Rozendaal: 65,70%
2. Schiermonnikoog: 58,20%
3. Bloemendaal: 55,90%
4. Abcoude: 54,90%
5. Haren: 54,80%

Lowest turnout in municipalities:

1. Rucphen: 22,30%
2. Reiderland: 26,20%
3. Reusel-De Mierden: 27,40%
4. Den Helder: 27,50%
5. Spijkenisse: 27,90%

Results

According to the European Commission, the publication of national results prior to Sunday evening is illegal. However, all the municipalities in the Netherlands published the results on Thursday, so the media was able to give an almost complete national result, only minus votes cast abroad. The complete and official result were published the June 11, 2009. The same happened after the elections in 2004.

Dutch political parties

The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) managed to remain the biggest party (5 seats), despite losing 2 seats.
The biggest winners were the Party for Freedom (up 4 seats) and Democrats 66 (up 2). The biggest loser was the Labour Party, which lost more than half its seats (down 4). The ChristianUnion-SGP was in the Independence/Democracy group, but this did not meet the requirements for European Parliament groups and was dissolved. The ChristianUnion and SGP entered into 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 ChristianUnion joined the European Conservatives on its own. Thus the ChristianUnion and Reformed Political Party (SGP) split into two group in the European parliament, after 25 years of cooperation.

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 and European Socialists group.
The European Greens–European Free Alliance lost a seat, despite GreenLeft winning a seat. This because Europe Transparent, which sat in the European Greens-EFA group did not take part this election. Newcomer Party for Freedom is not part of a European group and is under Non-Inscrits. The ChristianUnion-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 ChristianUnion and SGP entered talks with the European Conservatives after the elections. The SGP was asked to chance their stance on women's issues, but declined. After that the ChristianUnion joined the European Conservatives on its own. The ChristianUnion and Reformed Political Party split after 25 years cooperation into two groups in the European parliament.

Elected Members

20 members were elected by preference vote. 24 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:

Christian Democratic Appeal

1. Wim van de Camp, by 579,775 votes (top candidate)
2. Ria Oomen-Ruijten, by 70,388 votes
3. Corien Wortmann-Kool, by 48,270 votes
4. Esther de Lange, by 43,406 votes
5. Lambert van Nistelrooij, by 41,846 votes

Party for Freedom

1. Barry Madlener, by 372,060 votes (top candidate)
2. Geert Wilders, by 334,846 votes (has announced that he will not claim his seat)
3. Louis Bontes, by 6,751 votes
4. Daniël van der Stoep, by 5,650 votes

Dutch Labour Party

1. Thijs Berman, by 372,060 votes (top candidate)
2. Emine Bozkurt, by 66,385 votes
3. Judith Merkies, by 18,553 votes

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy

1. Hans van Baalen, by 367,796 votes (top candidate)
2. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, by 52,184 votes
3. Toine Manders, by 34,973 votes

Democrats 66

1. Sophie in 't Veld, by 433,957 votes (top candidate)
2. Marietje Schaake, by 18,662 votes
3. Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, by 18,107 votes

GreenLeft

1. Judith Sargentini, by 321,744 votes (top candidate)
2. Bas Eickhout, by 13,782 votes
3. Marije Cornelissen, by 14,486 votes

Socialist Party

1. Dennis de Jong, by 194,359 votes (top candidate)
2. Kartika Liotard, by 32,426 votes

ChristianUnion – Reformed Political Party

1. Peter van Dalen (ChristianUnion), by 209,947 votes (top candidate)
2. Bastiaan Belder (Reformed Political Party), by 53,450 votes

Members not elected, but enough preference votes:

Remainder seats

Four remainder seats were allocated in this order:

1. CDA/European People's Party and ChristianUnion/SGP electoral alliance, given to ChristianUnion – Reformed Political Party
2. VVD/European Liberal-Democrats and Democrats 66 electoral alliance, given to the Democrats 66
3. Socialist Party
4. PvdA/European Social-Democrats and GreenLeft electoral alliance, given to GreenLeft

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.