Dutch General Election, 2006

Dutch General Election, 2006

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2006 following the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet. The elections proved relatively successful for the governing Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which remained the largest party with 41 seats, a loss of only three seats. The largest increase in seats was for the Socialist Party (SP), which went from nine to 25 seats. The main opposition party, the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) lost nine of its 42 seats, while the right-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the progressive liberal Democrats 66 lost a considerable portion of their seats, six of 28 and three of six, respectively. New parties, such as the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) of former VVD MP Geert Wilders and the animal rights party Party for the Animals (PvdD) were also successful, with the PVV winning nine seats and the PvdD winning two, thereby becoming the first animal rights group to enter a European parliament.

For the breakdown of seats in House of Representatives since the 2006 General Elections, please refer to the List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands (2006-2010)

The formation talks led to the installation of the Christian-social fourth Balkenende cabinet, composed of CDA, PvdA and ChristianUnion on 22 February 2007.