1972 Dutch general election

1972 Dutch general election
29 November 1972
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives
76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 83.5% (Increase 4.4 pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/–
PvdA Joop den Uyl 27.3% 43 +4
KVP Frans Andriessen 17.7% 27 −8
VVD Hans Wiegel 14.4% 22 +6
ARP Barend Biesheuvel 8.8% 14 +1
PPR Bas de Gaay Fortman 4.8% 7 +5
CHU Arnold Tilanus 4.4% 7 −3
CPN Marcus Bakker 4.4% 7 +1
D66 Hans van Mierlo 4.1% 6 −5
DS'70 Willem Drees Jr. 4.1% 6 −2
SGP Hette Abma 2.2% 3 0
BP Hendrik Koekoek 1.9% 3 +2
GPV Piet Jongeling 1.8% 2 0
PSP Bram van der Lek 1.5% 2 0
RKPN Klaas Beuker 0.9% 1 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Seats
Cabinet before Cabinet after
Second Biesheuvel cabinet
KVP–VVD–ARP–CHU 		Den Uyl cabinet
PvdA–KVP–ARP–D66–PPR

Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 29 November 1972. The Labour Party (PvdA) remained the largest party, winning 43 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.

The elections led to a five-party coalition government consisting of the PvdA, the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party, the Political Party of Radicals and Democrats 1966 with the PvdA's Joop den Uyl as Prime Minister.

Results

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Labour Party 2,021,454 27.34 43 +4
Catholic People's Party 1,305,401 17.65 27 –8
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 1,068,375 14.45 22 +6
Anti-Revolutionary Party 653,609 8.84 14 –1
Political Party of Radicals 354,829 4.80 7 +5
Christian Historical Union 354,463 4.79 7 –3
Communist Party of the Netherlands 330,398 4.47 7 +1
Democrats 1966 307,048 4.15 6 –5
Democratic Socialists '70 304,714 4.12 6 –2
Reformed Political Party 163,114 2.21 3 0
Farmers' Party 143,239 1.94 3 +2
Reformed Political League 131,236 1.77 2 0
Pacifist Socialist Party 111,262 1.50 2 0
Roman Catholic Party of the Netherlands 67,658 0.92 1 New
Democratic Centre Party 41,262 0.56 0 New
Dutch Middle Class Party 32,970 0.45 0 –2
Stam List 1,547 0.02 0 New
Party of the Right 656 0.01 0 0
Anti Woningnood Actie Centrum 574 0.01 0 New
New Roman Party 236 0.00 0 0
Total 7,394,045 100.00 150 0
Valid votes 7,394,045 99.31
Invalid/blank votes 51,242 0.69
Total votes 7,445,287 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 8,915,179 83.51
Source: Kiesraad

By province

Results by province
Province PvdA KVP VVD ARP PPR CHU CPN D'66 DS'70 SGP BP GPV PSP RKPN Others
Drenthe 37.2 5.3 15.2 14.5 2.9 7.1 3.2 3.0 3.4 0.3 2.5 2.8 1.0 0.2 1.3
Friesland 31.9 4.7 10.0 21.0 3.2 10.9 3.7 2.8 3.4 1.1 1.5 3.1 1.3 0.3 1.0
Gelderland 26.1 18.2 14.1 9.2 4.9 7.4 1.7 3.3 3.7 3.9 2.7 1.7 1.3 0.8 1.2
Groningen 34.9 3.5 11.9 15.1 3.5 5.4 8.6 3.1 3.7 0.3 1.5 5.2 1.6 0.4 1.4
Limburg 20.2 43.9 12.3 2.2 4.7 0.4 2.8 4.0 2.2 0.1 2.4 0.2 1.2 2.1 1.2
North Brabant 20.3 37.7 13.5 4.4 5.2 1.3 2.3 4.0 2.7 0.5 3.7 0.5 1.4 1.5 1.1
North Holland 27.7 12.7 16.6 6.5 5.9 2.5 9.9 5.3 5.6 0.5 1.2 1.1 2.5 1.0 1.0
Overijssel 25.1 19.9 10.8 10.0 4.0 8.8 3.3 3.0 3.2 3.1 2.7 3.4 0.9 0.8 1.0
South Holland 32.2 9.8 15.6 9.7 4.5 5.0 4.2 4.9 4.8 3.7 1.0 1.7 1.3 0.6 0.9
Southern IJsselmeer Polders 22.7 10.6 16.2 17.5 6.4 7.7 2.5 4.6 4.2 1.7 1.0 3.4 0.9 0.2 0.3
Utrecht 23.1 13.8 17.6 10.4 5.9 5.7 2.6 4.2 6.0 3.4 1.3 2.8 1.7 0.8 0.8
Zeeland 27.2 11.1 14.2 11.4 4.2 9.3 1.1 2.8 2.8 9.2 1.9 2.6 0.7 0.6 1.1