Dutch politics fragmented: 15 parties have chance at parliamentary seat

With just under two weeks to go to the parliamentary election, the Dutch political landscape is looking very fragmented, according to polling guide Peilingwijzer. There is only one big party - the VVD with 37 to 41 potential parliamentary seats - and a total of 15 parties have a chance of getting into the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, NOS reports.

The Peilingwijzer brings together the data of three polling agencies: I&O Research, Ipsos, and Kantar. To get onto the Peilingwijzer, you must score a seat at at least two of the three agencies.

New to the Peilingwijzer is Volt, a pan-European party active in all EU countries. Volt could get 0 to 3 seats. JA21 by Joost Eerdmans and Annabel Nanninga previously got onto the Peilingwijzer. The party currently stands at 0 to 2 seats.

If these newcomers indeed manage to get some seats in mid-March, there will be 15 different parties in the Tweede Kamer for the firs time ever. The previous record of 14 parties was set in 1933 and then achieved again in 1971 and 1972. 

According to political scientist Tom Louwerse, the maker of Peilingwijzer, the fragmentation is even worse when you consider that there is actually only one large party: the VVD. In the early 1970s, there were three parties with well above 20 seats - PvdA, KVP that merged into the CDA, and VVD.

Now there's one large party and many medium parties. The PVV (17 to 20 seats) and CDA (17 to 19) are closest to 20 seats. And then there's D66 (13 to 15), PvdA (12 to 14), GroenLinks (11 to 13), and SP (9 to 11). 

In addition to the two new parties, the other small parties are ChristenUnie (5 to 7 seats), PvdD (5 to 7), FvD (3 to 5), SGP (2 to 4), and 50Plus (1 to 3)