Dutch general election, 1981

Dutch general election, 1981

26 May 1981
All 150 seats to the House of Representatives 76 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	87.0%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Dries van Agt Joop den Uyl Hans Wiegel Party CDA PvdA VVD Leader since 1976 1966 1971 Last election 49 seats, 31.9% 53 seats, 33.8% 28 seats, 17.9% Seats won 48 44 26 Seat change 1 9 2 Popular vote 2,677,259 2,458,452 1,505,311 Percentage 30.8% 28.3% 17.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Fred van der Spek Marcus Bakker Leader Jan Terlouw Fred van der Spek Marcus Bakker Party D66 PSP CPN Leader since 1973 1978 1963 Last election 8 seats, 5.4% 1 seats, 0.9% 2 seats, 1.7% Seats won 17 3 3 Seat change 9 2 1 Popular vote 961,121 184,422 178,292 Percentage 11.1% 2.1% 2.1%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Henk van Rossum Ria Beckers Meindert Leerling Leader Henk van Rossum Ria Beckers Meindert Leerling Party SGP PPR RPF Leader since 1981 1977 1980 Last election 3 seats, 2.1% 3 seats, 1.7% 0 seats, 0.6% Seats won 3 3 2 Seat change 0 0 2 Popular vote 171,324 171,042 108,364 Percentage 2.0% 2.0% 1.2%
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Prime Minister before election Dries van Agt CDA Prime Minister Dries van Agt CDA

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 26 May 1981. The Christian Democratic Appeal emerged as the largest party, winning 48 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Christian Democratic Appeal	2,677,259	30.8	48	–1
Labour Party	2,458,452	28.3	44	–9
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	1,505,311	17.3	26	–2
Democrats 66	961,121	11.1	17	+9
Pacifist Socialist Party	184,422	2.1	3	+2
Communist Party of the Netherlands	178,292	2.1	3	+1
Reformed Political Party	171,324	2.0	3	0
Political Party of Radicals	171,042	2.0	3	0
Reformatory Political Federation	108,364	1.2	2	+2
Reformed Political League	70,878	0.8	1	0
Centre Party	204,372	2.4	0	New
Democratic Socialists '70			0	–1
The Peace Party			0	New
Evangelical People's Party			0	New
God with Us			0	New
International Communist League			0	New
Small Party			0	New
Livable Netherlands			0	New
Nederlandse Evoluie Partij			0	New
Dutch Peoples-Union			0	0
Party for the Liquidation of the Netherlands			0	New
Partij Van Rijksgenoten			0	New
Realists '81			0	New
Roman Catholic Party of the Netherlands			0	0
Right-wing People's Party			0	–1
Survive Together or Die			0	New
Socialist Party			0	0
Verbond tegen Ambtelijke Willekeur			0	New
Invalid/blank votes	47,401	–	–	–
Total	8,738,238	100	150	0
Registered voters/turnout	10,040,121	87.0	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular Vote
CDA			30.81%
PvdA			28.29%
VVD			17.32%
D66			11.06%
PSP			2.12%
CPN			2.05%
SGP			1.97%
PPR			1.97%
RPF			1.25%
GPV			0.82%
DS70			0.56%
Other			1.79%