1999 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

An election of Members of the European Parliament representing Netherlands constituency for the 1999–2004 term of the European Parliament was held on 10 June 1999. It was part of the wider 1999 European election. Eleven parties competed in a D'Hondt type election for 31 seats.

1999 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

10 June 1999
31 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	30.02%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Hanja Maij-Weggen Max van den Berg Jan-Kees Wiebenga Party CDA PvdA VVD Alliance EPP-ED PES ELDR Seats won 9 / 31 6 / 31 6 / 31 Seat change 1 2 0 Popular vote 954,898 712,929 698,050 Percentage 26.94% 20.11% 19.69% Swing 3.9% 2.8% 2.2%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Joost Lagendijk Hans Blokland Lousewies van der Laan Party GL SGP/RPF/GPV D66 Alliance Greens-EFA EDD ELDR Seats won 4 / 31 3 / 31 2 / 31 Seat change 3 1 2 Popular vote 419,869 309,612 205,623 Percentage 11.85% 8.74% 5.80% Swing 8.1% 0.9% 5.9%   Seventh party   Leader Erik Meijer Party SP Alliance EUL/NGL Seats won 1 / 31 Seat change 1 Popular vote 178,642 Percentage 5.04% Swing 3.7

Background

Combined lists

Several parties combined in one list to take part in this European Election and increase their chance on a seat in the European Parliament. These combined lists are:

1. SGP, RPF and GPV

Electoral alliances

No lists formed an electoral alliance.

Numbering of the candidates list

Further information: Party lists in the 1999 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

The official order and names of candidate lists:

Candidate lists for the
1999 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

List			English translation	List name (Dutch)
1		list	CDA - European People's Party	CDA – Europese Volkspartij
2		list	P.v.d.A./European Social Democrats	P.v.d.A./Europese Sociaaldemocraten
3		list	VVD - European Liberal-Democrats	VVD – Europese Liberaal-Democraten
4		list	D66
5		list	SGP, GPV and RPF	SGP, GPV en RPF
6		list	GREENLEFT	GROENLINKS
7		list	CD/Conservative Democrats	CD/Conservatieve Democraten
8		list	List Sala	Lijst Sala
9		list	European Electorate Platform Netherlands	Europees Verkiezers Platform Nederland
10		list	SP (Socialist Party)	SP (Socialistische Partij)
11		list	THE EUROPEAN PARTY	DE EUROPESE PARTIJ

Results

Further information: Netherlands (European Parliament constituency)

Voter turnout was a record low for a national election of just 30.02%. In the election the GreenLeft performed particularly well quadrupling their seats from one to four. The Socialist Party won its first seat. These gains were made at the cost of the Christian Democratic Appeal, Democrats 66 and the PvdA, which lost one, two and two seats respectively.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian Democratic Appeal	954,898	26.94	9	–1
	Labour Party	712,929	20.11	6	–2
	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	698,050	19.69	6	0
	GroenLinks	419,869	11.85	4	+3
	SGP–GPV–RPF	309,612	8.74	3	+1
	Democrats 66	205,623	5.80	2	–2
	Socialist Party	178,642	5.04	1	+1
	European Party	23,231	0.66	0	New
	Centre Democrats	17,740	0.50	0	0
	European Electorate Platform Netherlands	13,234	0.37	0	New
	List Sala	10,580	0.30	0	New
Total		3,544,408	100.00	31	0
Valid votes		3,544,408	99.54
Invalid/blank votes		16,356	0.46
Total votes		3,560,764	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		11,862,864	30.02
Source: Kiesraad

European groups

The EPP-ED group becomes the biggest group this election despite losing seat. This because the ELDR group in the Netherlands lost 2 seats from the Democrats 66. The EG-EFA group makes a big gain in seat, thanks to the win of GreenLeft. The Socialist Party won EUL-NGL its first seat in the Netherlands.

Summary of the 10 June 1999 European Parliament elections in the Netherlands

1999
European group			Seats 1994	Seats 1999	Change
	European People's Party–European Democrats	EPP-ED	10	9	1
	European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party	ELDR	10	8	2
	Party of European Socialists	PES	8	6	2
	The Greens–European Free Alliance	Greens-EFA	1	4	3
	Europe of Democracies and Diversities	EDD	2	3	1
	European United Left–Nordic Green Left	EUL-NGL	0	1	1
	Non-Inscrits	NI	0	0	0
			31	31	0

Elected members

Further information: List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 1999–2004

5 largest municipalities

Results in the five largest municipalities

Municipality	CDA	PvdA	VVD	GL	SGP–GPV–RPF	D66	SP	Others
Amsterdam	9.1 (11 957)	27.2 (35 921)	17.4 (22 886)	24.6 (32 469)	1.5 (2 021)	9.1 (11 938)	7.2 (9 431)	4.0 (5 251)
Rotterdam	16.5 (15 649)	27.3 (25 936)	18.4 (17 412)	13.1 (12 459)	5.8 (5 503)	7.4 (7 056)	8.1 (7 707)	3.3 (3 113)
The Hague	16.7 (13 068)	20.5 (16 058)	26.2 (20 490)	13.6 (10 605)	4.0 (3 103)	12.2 (9 516)	4.8 (3 782)	2.0 (1 589)
Utrecht	14.2 (8 094)	22.3 (12 710)	16.0 (9 109)	26.2 (14 900)	3.3 (1 862)	9.6 (5 442)	6.9 (3 923)	1.5 (880)
Eindhoven	27.1 (11 294)	19.7 (8 205)	19.5 (8 120)	15.2 (6 325)	2.0 (849)	6.5 (2 727)	8.1 (3 393)	1.9 (789)