Democrats 66 Democraten 66 | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | D66 |
| Leader | Rob Jetten (list) |
| Chairperson | Alexandra van Huffelen |
| Leader in theSenate | Paul van Meenen |
| Leader in theHouse of Representatives | Rob Jetten |
| Leader in theEP | Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy |
| Founders | Hans van Mierlo Hans Gruijters |
| Founded | 14 October 1966 (1966-10-14) |
| Headquarters | Lange Houtstraat 11, The Hague |
| Youth wing | Young Democrats |
| Policy institute | Hans van Mierlo Foundation |
| Membership(January 2025) |  29,673[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre tocentre-left |
| Regional affiliation | Liberal Group[2] |
| European affiliation | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| European Parliament group | Renew Europe |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
| Colours | Green White |
| Senate | 6 / 75 |
| House of Representatives | 26 / 150 |
| Provincial councils | 33 / 570 |
| European Parliament | 3 / 31 |
| Benelux Parliament | 2 / 21 |
| Website | |
| d66.nl | |
Democrats 66 (Dutch:Democraten 66;[a]D66) is asocial-liberal[3][4] andprogressive[5][6]political party in theNetherlands, which is positioned on thecentre tocentre-left of thepolitical spectrum.[7][8][9] It is a member of theLiberal International (LI) and theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). The party is led byRob Jetten, who was electedparty leader on 12 August 2023.[10]Paul van Meenen, Rob Jetten andGerben-Jan Gerbrandy are serving as the party'sparliamentary leaders in the Senate, the House of Representatives and the European Parliament respectively.
Its name refers to its year of foundation, 1966. Initially, its main objective had been to democratise the Dutch political system, but it developed a broader social liberal ideology over time. D66 is especially popular among people who hold auniversity degree, and its voters are mostly concentrated in larger cities and in municipalities with an above-average number of wealthy residents. The party supplies a relatively large proportion ofmayors, who are appointed rather than elected.
In the1967 general election, D66 won 7 out of 150 seats in theHouse of Representatives. No new party had ever gained that many seats before. The party was in government from1973 to 1977,1981 to 1982,1994 to 2002,2003 to 2006 and2017 to 2024. It currently holds twenty six seats in the House of Representatives, making it the joint largest parliamentary party along with thePVV. It also holds six seats in theSenate and three seats in theEuropean Parliament.
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Democrats 66 was founded on 14 October 1966 by a group of 44 people. Its founders were described ashomines novi, although 25 of the 44 had previously been members of another political party. The initiators wereHans van Mierlo, a journalist for theAlgemeen Handelsblad, andHans Gruijters, amunicipal councillor in Amsterdam for thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Van Mierlo became the party's political leader. The foundation of the party was preceded by the "Appeal 1966" on 10 October, in which the founders appealed to the people of the Netherlands to re-take their democratic institutions. The party renounced the 19th-century political ideologies, which dominated the political system and sought to endpillarisation. It called for radical democratisation of the Dutch political system, and forpragmatic andscientific policy-making.
The party participated in the1967 general election, with Hans van Mierlo as itslead candidate. The party won an unprecedented seven seats in theHouse of Representatives. In the1971 general election, the party won an additional four seats and it formed ashadow cabinet with theLabour Party (PvdA) and thePolitical Party of Radicals (PPR). In the1972 general election, the three parties formed apolitical alliance called the "Progressive Agreement" (Dutch:Progressief Akkoord; PAK) and presented the common electoral program "Turning Point '72" (Keerpunt '72).
In the election, D66 lost nearly half its seats, retaining only six. The alliance became the largest political force in the country, but it did not gain a majority. After long cabinet formation talks, the three PAK-parties formed anextra-parliamentary cabinet joined byprogressive members of theAnti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) and theCatholic People's Party (KVP). The cabinet was led by Labour politicianJoop den Uyl. Co-founder Hans Gruijters became Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning. After the formation talks, Van Mierlo left politics, feeling that his political position within the parliamentary party was untenable. Van Mierlo was replaced byJan Terlouw, who became the newparliamentary leader.
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In the period 1972–1974, the party had a dramatic loss of members (from 6,000 to 300) and polled very poorly in the1974 provincial elections. The party also lost half of its senators in the1974 Senate election. At one of the party congresses, amotion was put forth to abolish the party. A majority of the members voted in favour, but the two-thirds majority was not reached. In reaction, Terlouw started a campaign to revitalise the party, involving a membership drive and apetition to the electorate. He emphasised issues other than democratic reform and gave the party a moreliberal orientation. The party doubled its membership in 1975 and won two additional seats in the1977 general election, despite losing all its seats in theSenate in the same year.
In the1981 general election, D66 gained 17 seats. The party formed a government with the Labour Party and theChristian Democratic Appeal (CDA), with Terlouw asMinister of Economic Affairs. The cabinet was characterised by the personal and ideological conflicts between Prime MinisterDries van Agt (CDA) andMinister of Social Affairs Joop den Uyl (PvdA). The cabinet fell nine months after it was formed, when the Labour Party left the cabinet. D66 and the CDA continued to govern in acaretaker government. In the subsequent1982 general election, D66 lost two-thirds of its support, and was left with only 6 seats. After the election, Terlouw left politics and was replaced byMaarten Engwirda. The party was confined toopposition.
In 1986, Van Mierlo returned to politics. He emphasised democratic reform as the core issue of the party and wanted to end the polarisation between the Labour Party and VVD, so that it would be possible to form a government without the CDA. He led the party in the1986 general election and won nine seats. In the1989 election, the party won 12 seats and was asked to join the formation talks of a CDA–PvdA–D66 coalition. While the PvdA preferred to form a governmentwith D66, the CDA did not. Ultimately, D66 was excluded from the coalition, because it was not necessary to include them to reach a majority in parliament.
Despite being in opposition, D66 adopted a constructive approach towards the government. They were rewarded for this in the1994 general election, in which the party doubled its number of seats to 24. D66 was able to form its preferred coalition: the "purple government", which included both thesocial democratic PvdA and theconservative liberal VVD. Van Mierlo was appointedMinister of Foreign Affairs. As advocated by D66, thefirst Kok cabinet initiated progressive legislation, such as the introduction ofsame-sex marriage and the legalisation ofeuthanasia. The moderatelyliberal economic policies of the cabinet were also seen as a great success.
Shortly before the1998 general election, Van Mierlo stepped back and Minister of HealthEls Borst became the new top candidate. D66 lost ten seats in the election, while its coalition partners gained ground at the cost of D66. Thesecond Kok cabinet continued. Although D66 was technically not needed for a majority in parliament, it was seen as the glue that kept the PvdA and the VVD together. Borst stepped down as party leader and becameDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health.Thom de Graaf led the party in the House of Representatives. From within the party, there were calls for a more explicit progressive liberal course. In 1999, a constitutional reform that would allow forreferendums to be held was rejected by the Senate, because a group of VVD dissidents had voted against it. In response, D66 left the cabinet. After the subsequent formation talks, D66 returned to the cabinet in return for a temporary referendum law and directly elected mayors.
In the2002 general election, the tide had turned against the purple government, and the right-wing populistPim Fortuyn List (LPF) gained considerable ground. The three purple parties lost an unprecedented 43 seats. D66 was left with only seven seats. Thefirst Balkenende cabinet, consisting of CDA, LPF and VVD, lasted only three months. In the2003 general election, D66 lost another seat, leaving only 6. De Graaf stepped down and was succeeded byBoris Dittrich. After long formation talks between the CDA and the PvdA failed, asecond Balkenende cabinet was formed, which included the CDA, the VVD and D66.
In return for investments in environment and education, and a special Minister for Governmental Reform, D66 supported thecentre-right reform cabinet and some of its more controversial legislation. In May 2005, the Senate rejected a constitutional reform that would allow a directly elected mayor. The legislation had been introduced by thesecond Kok cabinet, but it was unable to get a two-thirds majority because the Labour Party was opposed the electoral system proposed by Minister for Governmental Reform Thom de Graaf. De Graaf resigned, but the rest of the ministers retained their positions as D66 was promised more investment in public education and the environment. A special party congress was called to ratify this so-called "Easter Agreement" (Paasakkoord). 2,600 members (20 per cent of total membership) were present and the congress was broadcast live on television. The congress agreed to remain in cabinet by a large majority.Alexander Pechtold replaced De Graaf as Minister for Governmental Reform.Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, the Minister of Economic Affairs, becameDeputy Prime Minister.
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In February 2006, Dittrich stepped down as parliamentary leader, because he did not agree with the government's decision to send the Dutch armed forces to the southern province ofUruzgan inAfghanistan. D66 voted against the government's proposal together with theSocialist Party andGroenLinks. Dittrich stated that the mission to send troops was not a reconstruction mission (as the government and the majority of the Dutch parliament claimed), but a military operation.Lousewies van der Laan replaced Dittrich. In May 2006, D66 polled particularly badly in the2006 municipal elections. D66 began to lose a considerable number of members, some of whom foundeddeZES, another radical democratic, progressive liberal party. During a special party congress on 13 May 2006, a motion was put forth demanding the withdrawal of D66 from the cabinet, but it was rejected. In June 2006, aninternal election was held in order to choose the new party leader. The election was won byAlexander Pechtold.
During the special parliamentary debate on thenaturalisation process ofAyaan Hirsi Ali, D66 supported amotion of no confidence against Minister for IntegrationRita Verdonk. As D66 was a junior coalition partner, this caused a crisis in thesecond Balkenende cabinet. The cabinet refused to remove Verdonk from her position. Lousewies van der Laan, parliamentary leader of D66, felt that the D66 faction could no longer support the cabinet and stated that the cabinet had to resign. On 3 July 2006, the two D66 ministersAlexander Pechtold andLaurens Jan Brinkhorst resigned, causing thesecond Balkenende cabinet to fall.
In October 2006, just before the D66 party congress and its 40th anniversary as a party, D66 founderHans van Mierlo asked the question whether D66 still had political legitimacy. He believed that many errors were made in recent history and that only the acceptance of these errors could provide for any credibility for D66. Van Mierlo declared his support for party leader Pechtold, who in his view could provide for such credibility.[11]
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Since 2008, the party has performed quite well in theopinion polls, ranging from 10 to 26 seats, compared to only 3 seats in the House of Representatives.[12][13][14] In the2009 European Parliament election, the party won 11% of the votes and 3 seats, two more than in the previous election. The news programmeNova attributed this increase to the leadership of Alexander Pechtold, who was considered "the leader of the opposition" at the time.[15] Under the leadership of Pechtold, the party has taken strong stances against theParty for Freedom (PVV) ofGeert Wilders.[16] In the2010 general election, D66 increased its representation to 10 seats. In the2012 general election, the party further increased its number of seats to 12. Since 2008, the party has experienced a significant increase in party membership, from 10,000 to 25,000 in 2015.
In the2017 general election, D66 won 19 seats in the House of Representatives and formed a centre-rightcoalition government with the VVD, CDA andChristian Union (CU).Kajsa Ollongren was appointed second Deputy Prime Minister in thethird Rutte cabinet.
In October 2018, Alexander Pechtold announced his retirement from politics.[17] He was replaced byRob Jetten as parliamentary leader, but the position of party leader remained vacant.[18] In September 2020, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development CooperationSigrid Kaag was elected the new party leader and top candidate for the2021 general election.[10] Despite the fact that the opinion polls had predicted D66 to lose seats, the party won 24 seats in the 2021 election, becoming the second largest party in the House of Representatives.[19] On 12 August 2023 Rob Jetten became the leader of the party.[20] Following the2023 Dutch general election D66 lost more seats than any party, being reduced from 24 to 9, their worst result in 17 years.
In the2025 general election the party won 26 seats in the House of Representatives, reaching the highest amount of seats since the party's founding in 1966. It became the biggest party in terms of vote share, while obtaining the same amount of seats as the second biggest party, thePVV.[21]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2023) |
The ideology of D66 is a highly contested subject within the party and the question is tied to the reason for its existence. There are two currents within the party, namely the radical democrats and the progressive liberals. Although sometimes antagonistic, these two currents currently complement each other as both emphasise the self-realisation of the individual. TheRadical League and theFree-thinking Democratic League, two early 20th century parties are historic exponents of these two traditions.
The first party congress emphasised radical democratisation of Dutch society and the political system. Its ideal was atwo-party system. To obtain this, it wanted toreform the electoral system after the Britishfirst past the post model. The electoral reform was gradually moderated as the party now favours German-stylemixed member proportional representation. In this system, a national party-list election is used to make a first-past-the-post election representative to the nationwide vote. This radical democratisation was combined with a pragmatic and anti-dogmatic attitude towards politics.Hans van Mierlo, the party's leader between 1966 and 1972 and between 1986 and 1998 and the party's figurehead, was an important exponent of this tendency within the party.[citation needed]
D66's progressive liberal section has historically been much weaker than its radical democratic wing. UnderJan Terlouw between 1972 and 1982, D66 began to emphasise new issues like theenvironment,public education andinnovation. He called D66 a fourth current, next tosocial democracy,Christian democracy and theconservative liberalism of theVVD. In 1998, the group Opschudding called for aprogressive liberal course for the party. In the party's manifesto adopted in 2000, the party explicitly adopted aprogressive liberal image. National political reasons explain the usage of the label "social-liberal" since the moreright-leaningVVD describes itself as the liberal party.[citation needed]
Some of the party's most important positions include:
Democrats 66 appeals to the well educated andcivil servants.[26] D66 is overall strong and concentrated in the Randstad conurbation, while also getting its votes in and around university towns. In the2014 municipal elections, D66 became the largest party in many major cities includingAmsterdam,The Hague,Utrecht,Tilburg,Groningen,Enschede,Apeldoorn,Haarlem,Amersfoort andArnhem.[27][28]
| Election | Lead candidate | List | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Hans van Mierlo | List | 307,810 | 4.4 | 7 / 150 | New | Opposition |
| 1971 | List | 427,720 | 6.7 | 11 / 150 | 4 | Opposition | |
| 1972 | List | 307,048 | 4.1 | 6 / 150 |  5 | Coalition | |
| 1977 | Jan Terlouw | List | 452,423 | 5.4 | 8 / 150 | 2 | Opposition |
| 1981 | List | 961,121 | 11.0 | 17 / 150 | 9 | Coalition | |
| 1982 | List | 351,278 | 4.3 | 6 / 150 | 11 | Opposition | |
| 1986 | Hans van Mierlo | List | 562,466 | 6.1 | 9 / 150 | 3 | Opposition |
| 1989 | List | 701,934 | 7.9 | 12 / 150 | 3 | Opposition | |
| 1994 | List | 1,391,202 | 15.5 | 24 / 150 | 12 | Coalition | |
| 1998 | Els Borst | List | 773,497 | 9.0 | 14 / 150 | 10 | Coalition |
| 2002 | Thom de Graaf | List | 484,317 | 5.1 | 7 / 150 | 7 | Opposition |
| 2003 | List | 393,333 | 4.0 | 6 / 150 | 1 | Coalition | |
| 2006 | Alexander Pechtold | List | 193,232 | 2.0 | 3 / 150 | 3 | Opposition |
| 2010 | List | 654,167 | 6.9 | 10 / 150 | 7 | Opposition | |
| 2012 | List | 757,091 | 8.0 | 12 / 150 | 2 | Opposition | |
| 2017 | List | 1,285,819 | 12.2 | 19 / 150 | 7 | Coalition | |
| 2021 | Sigrid Kaag | List | 1,565,861 | 15.0 | 24 / 150 | 5 | Coalition |
| 2023 | Rob Jetten | List | 656,292 | 6.3 | 9 / 150 | 15 | Opposition |
| 2025 | List | 1,790,634 | 16.9 | 26 / 150 | 17 | TBA |
| Election | Lead candidate | List | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 6 / 75 | New | ||||
| 1974 | 3 / 75 | 3 | ||||
| 1977 | 0 / 75 | 3 | ||||
| 1980 | Jan Glastra van Loon | 2 / 75 | 2 | |||
| 1981 | 4 / 75 | 2 | ||||
| 1983 | 6 / 75 | 2 | ||||
| 1986 | Jan Vis | 6 / 75 | ||||
| 1987 | 5 / 75 | 1 | ||||
| 1991 | 12 / 75 | 7 | ||||
| 1995 | Eddy Schuyer | List | 7 / 75 | 5 | ||
| 1999 | List | 8,542 | 5.4 | 4 / 75 | 3 | |
| 2003 | List | 7,087 | 4.4 | 3 / 75 | 1 | |
| 2007 | Gerard Schouw | List | 3,270 | 2.0 | 2 / 75 | 1 |
| 2011 | Roger van Boxtel | List | 12,651 | 7.6 | 5 / 75 | 3 |
| 2015 | Thom de Graaf | List | 21,997 | 13.0 | 10 / 75 | 5 |
| 2019 | Annelien Bredenoord | List | 15,154 | 8.8 | 7 / 75 | 3 |
| 2023 | Paul van Meenen | List | 11,144 | 6.2 | 5 / 75 | 2 |
| Election | Lead candidate | List | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Aar de Goede | List | 511,967 | 9.03 | 2 / 25 | New | NI |
| 1984 | Doeke Eisma | List | 120,826 | 2.28 | 0 / 25 | 2 | – |
| 1989 | Jan-Willem Bertens | List | 311,990 | 5.95 | 1 / 25 | 1 | LDR |
| 1994 | List | 481,826 | 11.66 | 4 / 31 | 3 | ELDR | |
| 1999 | Lousewies van der Laan | List | 205,623 | 5.80 | 2 / 31 | 2 | |
| 2004 | Sophie in 't Veld | List | 202,502 | 4.25 | 1 / 27 | 1 | ALDE |
| 2009 | List | 515,422 | 11.32 | 3 / 25 | 2 | ||
3 / 26 |  0 | ||||||
| 2014 | List | 735,825 | 15.48 | 4 / 26 | 1 | ||
| 2019 | List | 389,692 | 7.09 | 2 / 26 | 2 | RE | |
2 / 29 | 0 | ||||||
| 2024 | Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy | List | 523,650 | 8.40 | 3 / 31 | 1 |
At its foundation, the party was called Democrats '66 (Dutch:Democraten '66, abbreviated D'66). The name referred to the party's goal of radical democratisation and to the year of foundation, which was supposed to convey a modern image. In 1981, theapostrophe was dropped: the name had become a successful political brand, but the year no longer conveyed a modern image.
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The highest organ of the D66 is the General Assembly, in which every member can participate. It convenes multiple times per year. It appoints the party board and has the last say over the party program. Theparty list, including the party'sparliamentary leader, for the Senate, House of Representatives, European Parliament candidates are elected directly by the members. The party has between 250 and 300 branches all over the Netherlands.
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Theyouth wing of D66 is called theYoung Democrats (Dutch:Jonge Democraten, abbreviated JD). It has produced several prominent active members of D66, such as former MPBoris van der Ham. The JD is a member ofEuropean Liberal Youth and theInternational Federation of Liberal Youth.
D66 is a co-founder of theNetherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, a democracy assistance organisation of seven Dutch political parties. TheHans van Mierlo Foundation is the party'spolicy institute.
D66 is a member of theLiberal International and of theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). D66 joined theLiberal and Democratic Reformists (LDR) group in 1989.[29] It became a full member of theEuropean Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) in 1994 and a full member of the Liberal International in 1986.[30]
The D66 delegation is part of theRenew Europe group in the European Parliament. Prior to thefirst European elections in 1979, D66's appointedMEPs were part of theSocialist Group, before switching toNon-Inscrits from 1979 to 1984,[31] and theLDR/ELDR/ALDE group since 1989.[29]
Current members of theEuropean Parliament since the2024 European Parliament election:
In theEuropean Committee of the Regions, the Democrats 66 party sits in theRenew Europe CoR group, with one full and two alternate member for the 2025–2030 mandate:[32]
D66 does not run an independent list for thewater board elections. Instead, likeGroenLinks andVolt Netherlands, it recommends that its voters supportWater Natuurlijk, an independent,green-oriented political party focused solely on water board elections.[3]
Finishing second was the left-wing progressive D66 party, which is close ideologically to Volt.
In hun plan Mooi Nederland willen PvdA, D66 en GroenLinks de 'plezierjacht' verbieden. Jagen is slechts geoorloofd als het een nuttig doel dient, zoals gewasbescherming of faunabeheer. Daarom willen ze de wildlijst van vrij bejaagbare dieren (onder meer haas, fazant en konijn) afschaffen.
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