1971 Dutch general election

← 1967 28 April 1971 1972 →
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	79.1% ( 15.8 pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/– PvdA Joop den Uyl 24.6% 39 +2 KVP Gerard Veringa 21.8% 35 −7 VVD Molly Geertsema 10.3% 16 −1 ARP Barend Biesheuvel 8.6% 13 −2 D66 Hans van Mierlo 6.8% 11 +4 CHU Bé Udink 6.3% 10 −2 DS'70 Willem Drees Jr. 5.3% 8 New CPN Marcus Bakker 3.9% 6 +1 SGP Hette Abma 2.3% 3 0 PPR Jacques Aarden 1.8% 2 New GPV Piet Jongeling 1.6% 2 +1 NMP Albert te Pas 1.5% 2 New PSP Hans Wiebenga 1.4% 2 −2 BP Hendrik Koekoek 1.1% 1 −6 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Seats Cabinet before Cabinet after De Jong cabinet KVP–VVD–ARP–CHU First Biesheuvel cabinet KVP–VVD–ARP–CHU–DS70

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 28 April 1971.^[1] The Labour Party (PvdA) emerged as the largest party, winning 39 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.^[2] The elections were the first without compulsory voting, causing a sharp fall in voter turnout, down to 79.1% from 94.9% in the 1967 elections.^[3] Barend Biesheuvel of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) became Prime Minister, leading the first Biesheuvel cabinet.

His cabinet contained a broad coalition of parties, with ministers from ARP, Christian Historical Union (both Protestant), the Catholic People's Party, the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and moderate socialist Democratic Socialists '70 (DS'70), which had just split off from the PvdA.

However, Biesheuvel's government was short-lived; following a decision to cut government spending, DS'70 withdrew from the government, causing it to lose its majority and fresh elections to be held after just a year and seven months.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Labour Party	1,554,733	24.60	39	+2
	Catholic People's Party	1,380,365	21.84	35	–7
	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	653,606	10.34	16	–1
	Anti-Revolutionary Party	542,874	8.59	13	–2
	Democrats 1966	428,150	6.77	11	+4
	Christian Historical Union	399,164	6.32	10	–2
	Democratic Socialists '70	336,788	5.33	8	New
	Communist Party of the Netherlands	246,594	3.90	6	+1
	Reformed Political Party	148,221	2.35	3	0
	Political Party of Radicals	116,065	1.84	2	New
	Reformed Political League	101,797	1.61	2	+1
	New Middle Party	95,653	1.51	2	New
	Pacifist Socialist Party	90,752	1.44	2	–2
	Farmers' Party	69,678	1.10	1	–6
	General Elderly Party of the Netherlands	26,881	0.43	0	New
	Dutch Appeal	24,379	0.39	0	New
	New Roman-Catholic Party	23,061	0.36	0	New
	Kabouters	21,988	0.35	0	New
	Elderly and Labour Party	21,489	0.34	0	New
	Binding Right	15,137	0.24	0	New
	Democrats 2000	7,189	0.11	0	New
	Elderly Party 65+	5,784	0.09	0	New
	Van Velsen List	3,676	0.06	0	New
	Elderly Party General Interest	1,843	0.03	0	New
	Stichting Gedupeerde Groepen 18+ t/m 65+	1,648	0.03	0	New
	Rural Party for the Elderly	1,620	0.03	0	New
	Party of the Right	477	0.01	0	0
	Positive Social Democrats	400	0.01	0	New
Total		6,320,012	100.00	150	0
Valid votes		6,320,012	99.27
Invalid/blank votes		46,567	0.73
Total votes		6,366,579	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,046,969	79.12
Source: Kiesraad

By province

Results by province^[4]

Province	PvdA	KVP	VVD	ARP	D'66	CHU	DS'70	CPN	SGP	PPR	GPV	NMP	PSP	BP	Others
Drenthe	35.6	5.9	13.5	14.3	4.3	8.8	3.9	4.0	0.4	0.8	2.8	1.9	0.7	1.5	1.7
Friesland	31.5	5.2	7.8	21.5	4.1	12.5	3.1	3.5	1.0	1.2	3.0	2.1	1.4	0.9	1.3
Gelderland	24.2	22.1	10.0	8.5	5.5	9.5	4.8	1.2	4.0	1.6	1.4	1.8	1.1	1.7	2.8
Groningen	31.8	4.1	10.8	15.4	4.1	6.7	4.1	11.0	0.3	1.3	5.2	1.5	1.5	0.8	1.4
Limburg	14.6	54.2	5.2	1.6	7.3	0.7	4.3	2.4	0.1	2.4	0.2	1.1	1.1	1.5	3.5
North Brabant	14.2	49.3	7.1	3.4	6.9	1.9	4.1	1.5	0.6	2.7	0.4	1.5	1.3	2.0	3.1
North Holland	25.2	16.0	12.2	6.4	8.5	3.6	7.7	9.0	0.6	2.3	0.9	1.5	2.4	0.7	2.9
Overijssel	23.8	23.0	8.0	9.7	4.8	10.7	4.0	2.9	3.2	1.2	3.0	1.7	0.9	1.6	1.6
South Holland	29.8	12.4	12.2	9.7	8.2	6.8	5.6	3.0	4.0	1.4	1.5	1.3	1.3	0.5	2.3
Southern IJsselmeer Polders	19.2	13.8	12.6	18.6	7.3	10.5	5.9	1.5	1.7	2.8	3.1	0.4	1.2	0.5	0.9
Utrecht	21.4	17.3	13.3	10.0	6.4	8.4	7.6	1.8	3.7	2.0	2.4	1.2	1.6	0.8	2.2
Zeeland	25.0	13.4	9.9	11.3	4.3	11.5	3.2	0.8	9.3	2.9	2.3	2.7	0.5	1.3	1.5