Dutch political party SGP puts record 46 women on municipal election lists
Conservative Christian party SGP will nominate a record 46 women in the upcoming municipal elections on March 18, marking the broadest participation by female candidates in the party’s history. According to a tally by Reformatorisch Dagblad, women are eligible for election on SGP lists in 18 municipalities. In nine of these, female candidates are appearing for the first time, bringing the total number of local SGP branches that have ever nominated one or more women to 23.
The move is notable for a party that has historically opposed women holding political office, with SGP's founding declaration describing women's political participation as contrary to their "religious purpose." Even at its party congress in May 2025, delegates voted 299 to 53 against amending the SGP’s core statutes to formally recognize women’s eligibility for political and leadership roles. The decision was made under party leader Chris Stoffer.
Still, the increase in female candidates for municipal elections is part of a gradual shift dating 2014, when court rulings required the SGP to allow women to stand for election. That year, women ran for office in two municipalities. In 2018, at least seven municipalities followed. Twenty female candidates ran in 2022. This year’s total more than doubles that figure.
Women appear on SGP lists in nine municipalities, including Houten, Vlissingen, and Voorst, where the party is running independently. Female candidates are also listed in Dordrecht, Leiderdorp, Nissewaard, Noordoostpolder, Westland, and Zoetermeer, where the SGP is running joint lists with the CU. Women previously ran for the SGP in Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Bronckhorst, Sliedrecht, and Zeist, but the party is not participating in Amersfoort and Amsterdam this year.
For the first time, women are candidates in Deventer, Enkhuizen, Hardenberg, Kapelle, Lisse, Rotterdam, Soest, Stadskanaal, and Zuidplas. Stadskanaal marks the party’s first participation in elections there. In Enkhuizen, Lisse, and Rotterdam, the SGP previously cooperated with the CU but is now running independently. In Rotterdam, the party did not field its list in 2022, although seven SGP members—including one woman—appeared on the CU list.
Some local branches said they were unable to find female candidates, even though they were open to doing so. The secretary of the SGP in Leusden said there were “unfortunately no women from within the party” available for the joint list with the Christian Union, or CU. In Doetinchem, the party supported female participation but could not identify candidates, according to list leader Thom Ebbers.
The SGP is also entering a new form of cooperation. In Soest, it is running on a joint list with the secular party BurgerBelangen Soest, or BBS, marking the first known collaboration between the SGP and a nonreligious party. In Zuidplas, the party is running jointly with the CU.
Vlissingen and Rotterdam each have eight female SGP candidates, the highest totals nationwide. Hardenberg has four, while Soest and Zuidplas each have three. In the remaining 13 municipalities, one or two women are on the ballot. In Deventer, Houten, and Leiderdorp, a husband and wife are running.
Lilian Janse, the first woman to hold office for the SGP in 2014, had submitted the proposal along with her local chapter in Vlissingen. Despite her decade-long experience in office, the party’s founding regulations still state that women who enter politics are acting “in conflict with their calling.”
The upcoming election outcomes for female candidates are expected to remain limited. Incumbent female SGP councilors in Dordrecht, Noordoostpolder, and Vlissingen are expected to be re-elected.
Jeannet Kamerik from Kapelle could become the fourth female SGP councilor; she is listed third in a municipality where the party currently holds three seats. Under Dutch election law, preference votes can override list order.
