Dutch general election, 1918

Netherlands

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Netherlands

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A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on July 3, 1918. It was the first election in which universal male suffrage was applied, and the first in which a system of proportional representation was used. Previously, voters voted per district according to a First-past-the-post voting system, but now voters voted on candidates on the party-lists.

The elections caused major changes in the political make-up of the Dutch house of representatives. The confessional ('rightwing') parties, the RKSP, the ARP and the CHU, together obtained 50 seats. Along with two christian splinter-parties (The Christian-Democratic Party and the Christian-Social Party) they were able to form a majority of 52 seats.

The Liberals 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, the liberals now held 15 seats in the House of representatives.

On the leftwing, the SDAP won 7 seats, climbing from 15 to 22 seats. This gain was smaller then hoped for however. Furthermore, the SDAP was joined by 4 small parties of 1 seat each on the political left. The SDAP also had the sole woman elected in the general elections of 1918, Suze Groeneweg.

Two Single-issue parties, one for petty officers, and one for farmers, took up the last two seats.

The large fragmentation of the House was due to the new electoral system with a low threshold. The smallest party, the VDW, managed to win a seat with only 6,830 votes.

National summary

e • d Summary of the 3 July 1918 Dutch House of Representatives election results

Parties	Lijsttrekker	Votes	Seats	+/-	Vote %
Roomsch-Katholieke Bond van kiesvereenigingen	Wiel Nolens		30	+5
Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij	Pieter Jelles Troelstra		22	+7
Anti-Revolutionaire Partij	Victor Rutgers		13	+2
Christelijke-Historische Unie	Alexander de Savorin Lohman		7	-3
Liberale Unie	Pieter Rink		6	-15
Vrijzinnig Democratische Bond	Henri Marchant		5	-3
Bond van Vrije Liberalen	Hendrik Dresselhuys		4	-6
Economische Bond	Willem Treub		3	-3
Sociaal-Democratische Partij	David Wijnkoop		2	+2
Middenstandspartij	Abraham Staalman		1	+1
Christen-Democratische Partij	Andries Staalman		1	+1
Plattelandersbond	Michelle Larson		1	+1
Socialistische Partij	Harm Kolthek		1	+1
Bond van Christen-Socialisten	Willy Kruyt		1	+1
Christelijk Sociale Partij	Adolf van der Laar		1	+1
Neutrale Partij	Henri ter Hall		1	+1
Verbond Democratisering Weermacht	Willem Wijk		1	+1
Total (turnout ??.? %)		1.341.744	100	0	???

Parties

• Anti Revolutionary Party (Anti-Revolutionaire Partij)
• Agrarians' League (Plattelandersbond)
• Christian Democratic Party (Christen-Democratische Partij)
• Christian Historical Union (Christelijke-Historische Unie)
• Christian Social Party (Christelijk Sociale Partij)
• Economical League (Economische Bond), offshoot of the Freethinking Democratic League
• Freethinking Democratic League (Vrijzinnig Democratische Bond)
• League of Christian Socialists (Bond van Christen-Socialisten)
• League of Free Liberals (Bond van Vrije Liberalen)
• League for Democratization of the Army (Verbond Democratisering Weermacht)
• Liberal Union (Liberale Unie)
• Middle Class Party (Middenstandspartij)
• Neutral Party (Neutrale Partij)
• Roman Catholic League of Electoral Associations (Roomsch-Katholieke Bond van Kiesvereenigingen)
• Social Democratic Party (Sociaal-Democratische Partij), offshoot of the Social Democratic Workers' Party
• Social Democratic Workers' Party (Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij)
• Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij)

External sources

• Europa-nu: Dutch general election, 1918 (Dutch)