1918 Dutch general election
Netherlands
3 July 1918
All 100 seats in the House of Representatives
51 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
ABRKK Willem Hubert Nolens 30.03 30 +6
SDAP Pieter Jelles Troelstra 21.95 22 +7
ARP Abraham Kuyper 13.43 13 +1
CHU Alexander de Savornin Lohman 6.56 7 −2
LU Eduard Ellis van Raalte 6.19 6 −15
VDB Henri Marchant 5.27 5 −3
BVL Alibert Cornelis Visser van IJzendoorn 3.80 4 −6
EB Willem Treub 3.11 3 New
SDP David Wijnkoop 2.31 2 New
MP Abraham Staalman 0.94 1 New
CDP Andries Staalman 0.79 1 New
PB Michelle Larson 0.68 1 New
SP Harm Kolthek 0.67 1 New
BCS Willy Kruyt 0.63 1 New
CSP Adolf van der Laar 0.61 1 New
NP Henri ter Hall 0.53 1 New
VDW Willem Wijk 0.51 1 New
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Pieter Cort van der Linden
LU		 Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck
ABRKK

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 two-round system 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]

The change in the electoral system led to major changes in the political makeup 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.

The elections were the first in which Dutch women could run for office, despite still not being allowed to vote. Suze Groeneweg was elected as the first female member of the House of Representatives.[4]

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: Kiesraad

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
  4. ↑
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