List of political parties in the Netherlands

This article lists political parties in the Netherlands. The country has a multi-party system with numerous political parties, in which any one party has little chance of gaining power alone; parties often work with each other to form coalition governments.

The lower house of the legislature, the House of Representatives, is elected by a national party-list system of proportional representation. There is no threshold for getting a seat, making it possible for a party to get a seat with only two-thirds percent of the vote—roughly one seat for every 67,000 votes.

No party has won a majority of seats since the 1894 general election; no party has even approached the seats needed for a majority since the current proportional representation system was implemented in the Pacification of 1917. All governments since then have been coalitions between two or more parties. However, there is a broad consensus on the basic principles of the political system, with all parties having to adjust their goals to some extent in order to have a realistic chance at being part of the government.

Defunct political parties

 * General Elderly Alliance (AOV)
 * General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses (succeeded by the Roman Catholic State Party)
 * Article 50 (merged with For the Netherlands)
 * General Dutch Fascist League
 * Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP, 1879–1980; merged into Christian Democratic Appeal)
 * Arab European League (AEL; initially founded in Belgium, active in the Netherlands between 2003 and 2005; now MDP)
 * Workers Party of the Netherlands (APN)
 * Farmers' Party (BP)
 * League of Christian Socialists (BCS)
 * League of Dutch Marxist–Leninists (BNML; merged into the Communist Workers Organisation (Marxist–Leninist))
 * League of Free Liberals (merged into Liberal State Party)
 * Brabant Party (active in North Brabant)
 * Centre Democrats (CD; split from the Centre Party)
 * Centre Party (CP; later Centre Party '86)
 * Centre Party '86 (CP'86)
 * Christian Democratic Party (CDP)
 * Christian Democratic Union (CDU; merged into Labour Party)
 * Christian Historical Union (CHU) (merged into Christian Democratic Appeal)
 * Christian Social Party (CSP)
 * Christian Historical Voters' League (CHK) (merged into the Christian Historical Party)
 * Christian Historical Party (CHP) (merged into the Christian Historical Union)
 * Christian Organisation of Self-employed Persons
 * Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) (Communist Party Netherlands; merged into GroenLinks, some members formed the New Communist Party of the Netherlands)
 * Democratic Party (DP)
 * Democratic Socialists '70 (DS'70)
 * Economic League (EB)
 * Entrepreneurs Party (OP)
 * Europe Transparent (ET)
 * Evangelical People's Party (EVP; merged into GroenLinks)
 * Fatherland League
 * Free and Social Netherlands
 * Frisian League (merged into the Christian Historical Union)
 * Reformed Political League (GPV; merged into Christian Union)
 * Hervormd Gereformeerde Staatspartij (dissolved in 1946)
 * Independent Socialist Party (OSP)
 * Islam Democrats (ID)
 * Catholic National Party (KNP; merged into the Catholic People's Party)
 * Catholic People's Party (KVP; merged into Christian Democratic Appeal)
 * Communist Workers Organisation (Marxist–Leninist) (KAO(ml); dissolved around 1980)
 * Communist Unity Movement of the Netherlands (Marxist–Leninist) (KEN(ml); dissolved in mid-1980s)
 * Independent Citizens' Party (OBP)
 * Livable Netherlands (LN)
 * Liberal State Party (LSP; Liberal State Party; merged into Freedom Party (PvdV))
 * Liberal Party (merged into the Fatherland League)
 * Liberal Union (merged into Liberal State Party)
 * Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) (disbanded in 2007)
 * Ratelband List
 * Marxist–Leninist Party of the Netherlands (MLPN; a fake party founded in 1970 by the Dutch Intelligence Service BVD and the CIA, to research support for Maoism and to fool the People's Republic of China)
 * Middle Party for City and Country (MPSL)
 * Middle Class Party (MP)
 * National Socialist Dutch Workers Party (NSNAP) (1931–1941)
 * National Alliance (NA)
 * Dutch Block (NB)
 * New Middle Party (NMP)
 * Neutral Party
 * New National Party (NNP)
 * New Right (NR)
 * NIDA
 * Nieuwe Wegen (NiWe, New Ways)
 * Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP; merged into GroenLinks)
 * Party New Limburg (PNL; has been active in Limburg
 * Party of the Future (PvdT) or PartyParty (DFP) (Defunct in 2021)
 * Freedom Party (PvdV) (succeeded by the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy)
 * Party for Justice, Action and Progress (PRDV)
 * Peasants' League
 * Political Party of Radicals (PPR; merged into GroenLinks)
 * Progressive Integration Party
 * Radical League (RB; merged into Free-thinking Democratic League)
 * Reformatory Political Federation (RPF; merged into Christian Union)
 * Roman Catholic Party of the Netherlands (RKPN)
 * Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP; succeeded by the Catholic People's Party)
 * Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP; merged into Labour Party)
 * Social Democratic League (merged into the Social Democratic Workers' Party)
 * Socialist Party (Socialist Party active before World War II, not the current Socialist Party)
 * Union 55+ (General Senior Union/Union 55+)
 * Alliance for the Democratisation of the Army
 * League of Communists in the Netherlands (VCN; split from the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) in 1983 and merged with the remains of the CPN in 1992 to form the New Communist Party of the Netherlands (NCPN))
 * Alliance for National Reconstruction
 * VoorNederland (VNL)
 * Free-minded Party
 * Free-thinking Democratic League (VDB; merged into Labour Party)
 * Free Anti Revolutionary Party (merged into Christian Historical Party)