Abbreviation PvdD Chairman Luuk Folkerts | ||
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Founded October 28, 2002 (2002-10-28) | ||
The Party for the Animals (Dutch: Partij voor de Dieren; PvdD) is a political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare, though it claims not to be a single-issue party. The party does consider itself to be a testimonial party, which does not seek to gain political power, but only to testify to its beliefs and thereby influence other parties.
Contents
- History
- Miscellaneous
- Members of the House of Representatives
- Members of the Senate
- Members of the European Parliament
- References
Its chairwoman and political leader is Marianne Thieme.
At the moment the Party for the Animals holds 2 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 2 of the 75 seats in the Senate. In the House of Representatives Marianne Thieme and Esther Ouwehand represent the PvdD since November 30, 2006, while Niko Koffeman and Christine Teunissen represent it in the Senate; the first mentioned since June 12, 2007, the second since June 9, 2015. In the 2014 European Parliament elections, the party gained a representative in the European Parliament, Anja Hazekamp.
History
The Party for the Animals was founded on 28 October 2002 by Marianne Thieme, among others.
In the Dutch general election of 2003 it gained 50,000 votes (0.5%), but not a seat in the House of Representatives.
In the 2004 European Parliament election the party gained 153,000 votes (3.2%), three times as many as in the 2002 Dutch general election. Still the number of votes was not enough to obtain a seat in the European Parliament.
During the 2006 parliamentary elections it gained 179,988 votes (1.8%), enough for two seats in Dutch parliament. In the run-up to these elections the party was supported by several Dutch celebrities, such as writers Maarten 't Hart and Jan Wolkers.
In its first municipal council elections in 2010, the party gained one seat in each of the five places where it participated.
In its third parliamentary elections, on June 9, 2010, the PvdD retained its two seats in the House of Representatives with 122,317 votes (1.3%). In the 2012 general elections the party got 182,162 votes, an increase of 45%, but with just under 2% of the popular vote this did not secure a third seat in the House of Representatives.
Miscellaneous
The "PvdD" is the first political party in the world to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights.
One of the results that the PvdD claims to have reached during its first four-year parliamentary period is the fact that the government has declared that reduction of national meat consumption further on is one of its priorities.
The Party for Animals welcomed its 10,000th member in late 2009.
Members of the House of Representatives
After the 2012 elections the party has two representatives in the House of Representatives:
Members of the Senate
After the 2015 Senate elections, the party has two representatives in the Senate:
Members of the European Parliament
After the 2014 European Parliament elections, the party has one representative in the European Parliament: