2014 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

← 2009 22 May 2014 2019 →
26 seats to theEuropean Parliament
Turnout	37.32%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sophie in 't Veld Esther de Lange Marcel de Graaff Party D66 CDA PVV Alliance ALDE EPP ENF Seats won 4 / 26 5 / 26 4 / 26 Seat change 1 0 1 Popular vote 735,825 721,766 633,114 Percentage 15.48% 15.18% 13.32% Swing 4.16% 4.87% 3.65%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Hans van Baalen Dennis de Jong Paul Tang Party VVD SP PvdA Alliance ALDE EUL/NGL PES Seats won 3 / 26 2 / 26 3 / 26 Seat change 0 0 0 Popular vote 571,176 458,079 446,763 Percentage 12.02% 9.64% 9.40% Swing 0.63% 2.54% 2.65%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Peter van Dalen Bas Eickhout Anja Hazekamp Party CU–SGP GL PvdD Alliance ECR Greens-EFA EUL/NGL Seats won 2 / 26 2 / 26 1 / 26 Seat change 0 1 1 Popular vote 364,843 331,594 200,254 Percentage 7.67% 6.98% 4.21% Swing 0.85% 1.89% 0.75%

Elections, candidates and members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands
1952–1958	ECSC delegation
1958–1979	EP delegation
1979–1984	1st election,candidates andmembers
1984–1989	2nd election,candidates andmembers
1989–1994	3rd election,candidates andmembers
1994–1999	4th election,candidates andmembers
1999–2004	5th election,candidates andmembers
2004–2009	6th election,candidates andmembers
2009–2014	7th election,candidates andmembers
2014–2019	8th election,candidates andmembers
2019–2024	9th election,candidates andmembers
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v t e

An election of theMembers of the European Parliament from theNetherlands was held on 22 May 2014. This is the 8th time the elections have been held for the European elections in the Netherlands.

To cast a vote (for the right to vote) in elections for the European Parliament. The voter should:

• have either the Dutch nationality or the nationality of a European Union member state;
• be 18 years or older;
• not be disqualified from voting.

Non-Dutch citizens who are nationals of other Member States of the European Union may voteat the election of the European Parliament, provided that they:

• are living on the day of the candidates' nomination in the Netherlands;
• have attained the age of 18 on the day of the vote;
• are not disqualified from voting either in the Netherlands or in the Member State in which they are a citizen;
• have registered in a municipality with a statement that they want to vote in the Netherlands. (The so-called Y-32 form.)

Dutch nationals abroad have to register to vote for the elections to the European Parliament. Upon registration request, they must indicate whether they are voting by letter,by proxy, or in person at a polling station in the Netherlands.Dutch nationals living in another EU Member State must make a statement that they have not voted in the Member State in which they reside.

Dutch residents ofAruba,Curaçao andSint Maarten have the same required as other Dutch living abroad.Dutch residents onBonaire,St. Eustatius, andSaba have no need to register, because these islands are part of the Netherlands. They may, as in other Dutch municipalities, vote at their polling stations.

The number of granted requests for registration in 2014 was 23,799 individuals. This was down from 39,601 registered international voters in 2009.Of these registered voters, 21,017 indicated they wanted to vote by mail, 1,804 requested to vote in the Netherlands itself at a polling station, and 978 wanted to grant power of attorney to someone in the Netherlands.

To stand for election (for the right to be elected), a candidate should:

• have either Dutch nationality or the nationality of a Member State of the European Union;
• be eighteen years on the day of possible admission to the European Parliament;
• not be excluded from the right to vote.

Non-Dutch candidates from other Member States of the European Union must, in addition, be an actual resident in the Netherlands and not be excluded from the rightto be elected in the Member State of which they are a national.

In elections for the European Parliament, the national electoral districts play no role in the nomination. The Netherlands consists of a single electoral district.Political parties, therefore, take part in the elections with only a single candidate list.

Although the national electoral districts do play an important role in processing the election results.The principal polling station of each constituency determines the vote total of the constituency.The results of the vote are recorded in an official document and transferred to the Electoral Council.The Electoral Council, in its role as the central electoral committee, then determines the result of the Netherlands' distribution of seats.

The transfer of the official recorded votes to the Electoral Council took place in 18 constituencies on Monday, 26 May 2014.On Tuesday, 27 May, this transfer occurred for the two remaining constituencies where the municipalitiesRaalte,Kampen (constituency Zwolle), andOuder-Amstel, (constituency Haarlem) experimented with a centralised counting of votes.

A voter could cast their vote at a polling station of their choice within their own district. At thecasting their vote, they could identify themselves with an identity document which is considered valid even if it has expired within the last 5 years.

Voters who voted in the election for the European Parliament in 2014 from outside the Netherlands experimented with a new model ballot.In this new ballot, parties were allowed to show the party logo above their candidates if it had been registered in advance with the Electoral Council.

On Monday, 14 April 2014, the Electoral Council had a public hearing on the validity of thelists of candidates for the election of the Dutch seats for the European Parliament.The candidate list of the Women's Party was declared invalid because the required deposit to participate (€11,250) was not paid.Furthermore, the following candidates of the Party for the Animals were deleted because their documentation was incomplete and, as such, could not participate in the election:

• Tom Regan (United States);
• Will Kymlicka (Canada);
• J. M. Coetzee (Australia).

In the public hearing on April 14, 2014, the Electoral Council numbered the lists of candidates. The parties who had obtained one or more seats in 2009 at the last election to the European Parliament were given a number based on the number of votes that the parties had achieved in the previous election. These totaled 8 candidate lists. The party with the most votes got number 1 and the rest were listed accordingly. The list numbers for the remaining 11 candidates were decided by a lottery.

The official order and names of candidate lists:

A common list consists of 2 distinct parties which are sharing the same candidate list. TheChristian Union andSGP formed a common listChristian Union-SGP for the European Parliament election.

Several parties formed anelectoral alliance.

1. CDA/European People's Party andChristenUnie-SGP
2. PvdA/European Social-Democrats andGreenLeft

Traditionally, all elections are held on Wednesday in the Netherlands.Sunday is not an option because it is a resting day for Christians, while Friday and Saturday are impossible, because of theSabbath. Monday is also impossible, because then all preparation for an election would need to happen on the weekend. That leaves Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as possible election days. Many polling stations are located in schools, therefore, Wednesday is chosen because it is usually the quietest day of the week for classes.However, the European Parliament Elections run from Thursday to Sunday across the entire European Union. Therefore, Thursday is the election day for the European Parliament Elections.^[1]

According to theTreaty of Lisbon, the Netherlands was awarded 26 seats in the European parliament. This is one more than the election of 2009.The last elections were held when the treaty was not yet in effect, because not all member states had ratified the treaty.The treaty came into effect during the last session of the European Parliament. The additional seat was then awarded to theParty of Freedom on 9 October 2011 based on the results of the 2009 election. This increased the numbers of seats for the PVV from 4 to 5 for the 2009–2014 session.

• 
  CDA campaign poster "Vote CDA on 22 may. For the Netherlands, in Europe!"
• 
  PVV campaign poster "Less - EU"
• 
  PvdA campaign poster "Do something about banks and bonuses? - That's why PvdA in Europe!"
• 
  VVD campaign poster "VVD.nl"
• 
  D66 campaign poster "Strong Europe - Strong Netherlands"
• 
  GreenLeft campaign poster "GreenLeft"
• 
  SP campaign poster "No, against this EU"
• 
  Christian Union - SGP campaign poster "Working together YES - Superstate NO"
• 
  Pirate Party campaign poster "Don't trust posters. Inform yourself. Pirate Party"
• 
  50PLUS campaign poster "Don't touch our pensions. 50PLUS"
• 
  Liberal Democratic Party campaign poster "Perspective Europe, the people are not insane"
• 
  ichooseforhonest.eu campaign poster "ikkiesvooreerlijk.eu"
• 
  Focus and Simplicity campaign poster "Focus Simplicity"

Poll results are listed in the tables below in reverse chronological order. The highest figure in each survey is displayed in bold type, and the background is shaded in the colour the party. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded.

TheChristian Democratic Appeal won the most seats and was seen as the winner of the 2014 elections, althoughDemocrats 66 received more votes. The Christian Democratic Appeal got an extra seat due to their electoral alliance withChristian Union – Reformed Political Party. The euroscepticPVV (Party for Freedom) was the biggest loser of the 2014 elections, though it only lost one seat. Contrary to other European countries, the eurosceptic movement did worse than previous elections.

Voter turnout was with 37.32%, which is a little higher than in 2009 (36.75%). Turnout was highest inSchiermonnikoog (70.95%) and lowest inSint Eustatius (7.44%).

Summary:

• TheALDE remained the biggest group in the Netherlands. They increased their seats from 6 to 7, thanks toDemocrats 66 seat win.
• ThePVV (Party for Freedom) founded and joined theENF, they wereNon-Inscrits before.
• TheSGP (Reformed Political Party) joined theECR and left theEFD group. TheChristian Union and SGP, which were in separate groups since 2009 rejoined the same group again.
• TheParty for the Animals joined theGUE/NGL group, increasing their seats from 2 to 3.
• TheG-EFA lost one seat, becauseGreenLeft lost one.

EPP	S&D	ECR	ALDE	GUE/NGL	G-EFA	EFDD	ENF	Total
5 (CDA)	3 (PvdA)	2 (CU-SGP)	4 (D66) 3 (VVD)	2 (SP) 1 (PvdD)	2 (GL)		4 (PVV)	26

Summary of the 22 May 2014European Parliament elections in the Netherlands

← 2009 2014 2019 →
European group			Seats 2009	Seats 2014	Change
	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	ALDE	6	7	1
	European People's Party	EPP	5	5	0
	Europe of Nations and Freedom	ENF	none	4	4
	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats	S&D	3	3	0
	European United Left–Nordic Green Left	EUL-NGL	2	3	1
	The Greens–European Free Alliance	Greens-EFA	3	2	1
	European Conservatives and Reformists	ECR	1	2	1
	Europe of Freedom and Democracy	EFD	1	0	1
	Non-Inscrits	NI	4+1	0	5
			25(+1)	26	0

• 2014 European Parliament election
• European Parliament elections in the Netherlands
• 2014 in the Netherlands

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