Highest number of female parliamentarians in Dutch history; 43% women

The newly elected Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, consists of 43 percent women, according to the foundation Stem op een Vrouw (Vote for a Woman). This is the highest percentage of women in parliament since the first female MP was elected in 1918. According to the foundation, five additional women received a seat in parliament through preferential votes in this election.

Stem op een Vrouw bases its calculations on official reports of the results. According to the analysis, 65 women were elected to parliament, or 43.3 percent of the 150 seats. In 2010, 42,7 percent of the elected parliamentarians were women. In the elections of that year, 64 women were elected to parliament. In subsequent years, the number was lower.

In GroenLinks-PvdA, four women were elected to parliament with preferential votes, according to the foundation’s calculations. These are Fatihya Abdi, Mikal Tseggai, Lisa Vliegenthart, and Barbara Kathmann. They were too low on the candidate list to enter parliament for the party, which won 20 seats. With preferential votes, they will replace candidates who were higher on the list. Marieke Vellinga-Beemsterboer of D66 will also be in parliament through preferential votes.

According to the foundation, just over 6 percent of voters voted strategically for a woman in these elections. They voted for a woman whose place on the candidate list was close to or below the number of seats the party polled at. This voting behavior aligns with the Stem op een Vrouw campaign, which encourages people to vote more women into parliament in this way. The foundation has been campaigning since 2017.

The Electoral Council will announce the official results on Friday.

In 1918, Suze Groeneweg was elected the first female member of the Tweede Kamer. Women have been eligible to run for parliament since 1917. They have also had the right to vote since 1919.