1918 Dutch general election

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 3 July 1918.[1] They were the first elections held after a series of reforms that introduced universal male suffrage and pure proportional representation, replacing the previous system using first-past-the-post voting in single member constituencies.[2] This change was known as the Great Pacification, which also included the introduction of state financing of religious schools, and led to the start of consociational democracy.[3]

1918 Dutch general election

3 July 1918

Party Leader % Seats ± ABRKK Willem Hubert Nolens 30.0% 30 +6 SDAP Pieter Jelles Troelstra 22.0% 22 +7 ARP Abraham Kuyper 13.4% 13 +1 CHU Alexander de Savornin Lohman 6.5% 7 -2 LU Eduard Ellis van Raalte 6.2% 6 -15 VDB Henri Marchant 5.3% 5 -3 BVL Alibert Cornelis Visser van IJzendoorn 3.8% 4 -6 EB Willem Treub 3.1% 3 New SDP David Wijnkoop 2.3% 2 New MP Abraham Staalman 0.9% 1 New CDP Andries Staalman 0.8% 1 New PB Michelle Larson 0.7% 1 New SP Harm Kolthek 0.7% 1 New BCS Willy Kruyt 0.6% 1 New CSP Adolf van der Laar 0.6% 1 New NP Henri ter Hall 0.5% 1 New VDW Willem Wijk 0.5% 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Pieter Cort van der Linden LU Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck ABRKK

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The change in the electoral system led to major changes in the political make-up of the House of Representatives. The confessional right-wing parties, the General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses, the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union, together won 50 seats. Along with two Christian splinter-parties (the Christian Democratic Party and the Christian Social Party) they were able to gain a majority of 52 seats.

The liberal parties lost the most seats. While in 1917, two of the liberal parties, the Liberal Union and the League of Free Liberals, had won 31 seats, they were now reduced to 10 seats. Together with three smaller liberal parties, liberals now held only 15 seats in the House of representatives.

The fragmentation of the House was caused by the low electoral threshold of just 0.5%, with the smallest party, the Alliance for the Democratisation of the Army, managing to win a seat with only 6,828 votes.