2004 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

An election of Members of the European Parliament representing Netherlands constituency for the 2004–2009 term of the European Parliament was held on 10 June 2004. It was part of the wider 2004 European election. Fifteen parties competed in a D'Hondt type election for 27 seats (down from 31).

2004 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

10 June 2004
27 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	39.26%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Camiel Eurlings Max van den Berg Jules Maaten Party CDA PvdA VVD Alliance EPP-ED PES ALDE Seats won 7 / 27 7 / 27 4 / 27 Seat change 2 1 2 Popular vote 1,164,431 1,124,549 629,198 Percentage 24.43% 23.60% 13.20% Swing 2.51% 3.49% 6.49%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Kathalijne Buitenweg Paul van Buitenen Erik Meijer Party GL ET SP Alliance Greens-EFA Greens-EFA EUL/NGL Seats won 2 / 27 2 / 27 2 / 27 Seat change 2 2 1 Popular vote 352,201 349,156 332,326 Percentage 7.39% 7.33% 6.97% Swing 4.46% new 1.93%   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Hans Blokland Sophie in 't Veld Party CU–SGP D66 Alliance ID ALDE Seats won 2 / 27 1 / 27 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 279,880 202,502 Percentage 5.87% 4.25% Swing 2.27% 1.55%

Elections, candidates and members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands
1952–1958	ECSC delegation
1958–1979	EP delegation
1979–1984	1st election, candidates and members
1984–1989	2nd election, candidates and members
1989–1994	3rd election, candidates and members
1994–1999	4th election, candidates and members
1999–2004	5th election, candidates and members
2004–2009	6th election, candidates and members
2009–2014	7th election, candidates and members
2014–2019	8th election, candidates and members
2019–2024	9th election, candidates and members
2024–2029	10th election, candidates and members

Background

Combined lists

Several parties combined in one list to take part in this European Election and increase their chance on a seat in the European Parliament. These combined lists are:

1. Christian Union and SGP

Electoral alliances

Several parties formed an electoral alliance:

1. PvdA/European Social-Democrats and GreenLeft
2. CDA/European People's Party and Christian Union-SGP
3. VVD/European Liberal-Democrats and Democrats 66

The alliance between Christian Democratic Appeal and Christian Union-SGP cost the Christian Democratic Appeal a seat, which goes to Christian Union-SGP. Other alliances had no effect on the result.

Treaty of Nice

Further information: Treaty of Nice

The exact number of seats allocated to each country is determined by the treaties, currently the Treaty of Nice, and is adjusted by the accession treaty of each new member. Hence no change to the seats occurs without ratification by all states. According to the treaties, the maximum number of members in the Parliament is 732. This why the seats for the Netherlands was reduced from 31 to 27

Numbering of the candidates list

Further information: Party lists in the 2004 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

The official order and names of candidate lists:

Candidate lists for the European Parliament election in the Netherlands

2004
Lists
List			English translation	List name (Dutch)
1		list	CDA - European People's Party	CDA – Europese Volkspartij
2		list	P.v.d.A./European Social Democrats	P.v.d.A./Europese Sociaaldemocraten
3		list	VVD - European Liberal-Democrats	VVD – Europese Liberaal-Democraten
4		list	GREENLEFT	GROENLINKS
5		list	Christian Union-SGP	ChristenUnie–SGP
6		list	Democrats 66 (D66)	Democraten 66 (D66)
7		list	SP (Socialist Party)	SP (Socialistische Partij)
8		list	Democratic Europe	Democratisch Europa
9		list	LIVABLE EUROPE	LEEFBAAR EUROPA
10		list	Party for the North	Partij voor het Noorden
11		list	New Right	Nieuw Rechts
12		list	Europe Transparent	Europa Transparant
13		list	List Pim Fortuyn (LPF)	Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF)
14		list	Party for the Animals	Partij voor de Dieren
15		list	Respect.now	Respect.Nu

Results

Further information: Netherlands (European Parliament constituency)

According to the European Commission, the publication of national results prior to Sunday evening is considered illegal. However, all the municipalities in the Netherlands published the results on Thursday, giving the media the opportunity to give an almost complete national result, only missing votes cast abroad. The complete and official result were publicised according to the rules.

The ruling centre-right parties, the Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy polled poorly, while the opposition Labour Party and Socialist Party gained ground. The anti-fraud party Europe Transparent of whistleblower Paul van Buitenen unexpectedly won two seats. Voter turnout was 39.26%, a lot higher than the turnout in 1999 30.02%.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian Democratic Appeal	1,164,431	24.43	7	–2
	Labour Party	1,124,549	23.60	7	+1
	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	629,198	13.20	4	–2
	GroenLinks	352,201	7.39	2	–2
	Europe Transparent	349,156	7.33	2	New
	Socialist Party	332,326	6.97	2	+1
	Christian Union – Reformed Political Party	279,880	5.87	2	–1
	Democrats 66	202,502	4.25	1	–1
	Party for the Animals	153,432	3.22	0	New
	Pim Fortuyn List	121,509	2.55	0	New
	Party for the North	18,234	0.38	0	New
	New Right	15,732	0.33	0	New
	Liveable Europe	9,144	0.19	0	New
	Democratic Europe	8,780	0.18	0	New
	Respect.now	4,603	0.10	0	New
Total		4,765,677	100.00	27	–4
Valid votes		4,765,677	99.76
Invalid/blank votes		11,444	0.24
Total votes		4,777,121	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		12,168,878	39.26
Source: Kiesraad

European groups

The EPP-ED group lost 2 seats, making it just as big as the PES group. The ELDR becomes 3rd group after PES. After the elections ELDR and European Democratic Party (EDP) formed a new European Group named ALDE in the European parliament. The EDP did not have member party's in the Netherlands. Also the Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) group reforms itself with party's from Eastern-Europe. They rename their group to Independence/Democracy (ID). The Christian Union – Reformed Political Party is part of this new group.

Summary of the 10 June 2004 European Parliament elections in the Netherlands

2004
European group			Seats 1999	Seats 2004	Change
	European People's Party–European Democrats	EPP-ED	9	7	2
	Party of European Socialists	PES	6	7	1
	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	ALDE	8	5	3
	The Greens–European Free Alliance	Greens-EFA	4	4	0
	European United Left–Nordic Green Left	EUL-NGL	1	2	1
	Independence/Democracy	IND&DEM	3	2	1
	Non-Inscrits	NI	0	0	0
			31	27	4

Elected members

Further information: List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 2004–09