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

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.

Results

A man writing political slogans on a wooden fence in Amsterdam
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses402,96230.0330+5
Social Democratic Workers' Party294,49521.9522+7
Anti-Revolutionary Party180,18713.4313+2
Christian Historical Union88,0396.567–3
Liberal Union83,0846.196–16
Free-thinking Democratic League70,6745.275–3
League of Free Liberals50,9993.804–6
Economic League41,6913.113
Social Democratic Party31,0102.312
Middle Class Party12,6740.941
Christian Democratic Party10,6530.791
Peasants' League9,0890.681
Socialist Party8,9510.671
League of Christian Socialists8,4150.631
Christian Social Party8,1530.611
Neutral Party7,1530.531
Alliance for the Democratisation of the Army6,8280.511
General State Party6,7110.500
Police Party6,1600.460
Reformed Political Party5,1800.390
General Freedom Party2,6910.200
Van der Zwaag Group2,6490.200
Alberda Group7350.050
Kuiper Group5680.040
Amsterdamese Police and Firefighting Party4170.030
National League of Protestant Voters3780.030
People's Welfare Party3010.020
Neutral and Colonial League2370.020
People's Party2360.020
Stoffel Group2350.020
Braam Group1890.010
Total1,341,744100.001000
Registered voters/turnout1,517,380
Source: Nederlandse verkiezingsuitslagen
Popular Vote
RKSP
30.03%
SDAP
21.95%
ARP
13.43%
CHU
6.56%
LU
6.19%
VDB
5.27%
BVL
3.80%
EB
3.11%
SDP
2.31%
MP
1.00%
CDP
0.79%
PB
0.68%
Other
4.88%

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1395 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, pp1384-1385
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1385
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