1972 Dutch general election

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.

1972 Dutch general election

29 November 1972
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	83.5% ( 4.4 pp)
Party Leader Vote % 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

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