People's Party for Freedom and Democracy

History

Founding

In 1947, the Freedom Party led by Dirk Stikker and the Committee-Oud led by Pieter Oud started negotiations with the goal of a merger. The conservative liberal Freedom Party was a continuation of the Liberal State Party, but was disappointed with only six seats in the 1946 general election. The Committee-Oud was a group of former members of the social liberal Free-thinking Democratic League (VDB), who had been dissatisfied with the social-democratic character of the Labour Party (PvdA), in which the VDB had merged with the Social Democratic Workers' Party as part of the breakthrough movement. As a result, the part was founded on 24 January 1948.

1948–1963: Oud

Between 1948 and 1952, the VVD took part in the broad cabinets led by the Labour Party Prime Minister Willem Drees. The party was a junior partner with only eight seats to the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and Labour Party, which both had around thirty seats (out of 100). The Drees cabinets laid the foundation for the welfare state and decolonisation of the Dutch East Indies.

In the general election of 1952 the VVD gained one seat, but did not join the government. In the general election of 1956 it increased its total, receiving thirteen seats, but was stayed out of government during the cabinet formation, until the general election of 1959, which was held early because of a cabinet crisis. This time it gained nineteen seats, and the party entered government alongside the Protestant Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP), the Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the KVP.

1963–1971: Toxopeus and Geertsema

In 1963, Oud retired from politics, and was succeeded by the Minister of the Interior Edzo Toxopeus. With Toxopeus as its leader, the VVD lost three seats in the 1963 election, but remained in government after the 1963 cabinet formation. In 1962, a substantial group of disillusioned VVD members founded the Liberal Democratic Centre (Dutch: Liberaal Democratisch Centrum, LDC) which was intended to introduce a more twentieth-century liberal direction to the classical liberal VVD.

In 1966, frustrated with their hopeless efforts, left-wing LDC members joined a new political party, the Democrats 66 (D66). In 1965, there also occurred a conflict between VVD Ministers and their counterparts from the KVP and ARP in the Marijnen cabinet. The cabinet fell; without an election taking place, it was replaced by a KVP–ARP–PvdA cabinet under Jo Cals, which itself fell during the Night of Schmelzer the following year. In the subsequent 1967 election the VVD remained relatively stable and entered the De Jong cabinet.

During this period the VVD had loose ties with other liberal organisations; together, these formed the neutral pillar. They included the liberal papers Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and Algemeen Handelsblad, the broadcaster AVRO and the employers' organisation VNO.

1971–1994

In the Dutch general election of 1971, the VVD lost one seat and the cabinet lost its majority. A new cabinet was formed by the Christian democratic parties, the VVD and the Democratic Socialists '70 (an offshoot of the Labour Party). This cabinet collapsed after a few months. Meanwhile, the charismatic young MP Hans Wiegel had attracted considerable attention, and he became the new leader of the VVD. In 1971, he became the new parliamentary leader, and he was appointed lead candidate in 1972. With Wiegel as its head, the party oriented itself towards a new political course, aiming to reform the welfare state and to cut taxes. Wiegel did not shrink from conflict with the Labour Party and the trade unions. With this new course came new electoral support: working-class and middle-class voters who, because of individualisation and depillarisation, were more easy to attract.

The new course proved electorally profitable for the VVD: in the heavily polarised general election of 1972 the party gained six seats. The VVD was kept out of government by the social democratic and Christian democratic Den Uyl cabinet. Although the ties between the VVD and other organisations within the neutral pillar became ever looser, the number of neutral organisations friendly to the VVD grew. The TROS and later Veronica, new broadcasters which entered the Dutch public broadcasting system, were friendly towards the VVD. In 1977, the VVD again won six more seats, bringing its total to twenty-eight seats. When lengthy coalition talks between the social democrats and Christian democrats eventually led to a final break between the two parties, the VVD formed a cabinet with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), with a majority of only two seats.

In the general election of 1981, the VVD lost two seats and its partner the CDA lost even more. The cabinet lost its majority and CDA, Labour and D66 formed the Second Van Agt cabinet, which fell after only a few months. In 1982, Hans Wiegel left Parliament to become Queen's Commissioner in Friesland and was succeeded by Ed Nijpels. In the general election of 1982 Nijpels' VVD gained ten seats, bringing its total up to 36. It formed the First Lubbers cabinet with the CDA. The cabinet began a programme of radical reform of the welfare state, which is still in place today. The VVD lost nine seats in the 1986 election, but the cabinet nonetheless retained its majority. The losses were blamed on Nijpels, who stood down as leader of the VVD; Joris Voorhoeve succeeded him in 1986. In 1989 the CDA–VVD cabinet fell over a minor issue, and the VVD lost five seats in the subsequent election, retaining only twenty-two in total. The VVD was kept out of government; Voorhoeve stood down and was succeeded by Frits Bolkestein.

1994–2006

Bolkestein's VVD was one of the winners of the general election of 1994: the party gained nine seats. It formed an unprecedented government with the Labour Party (PvdA) and the social liberal Democrats 66. The so-called "purple cabinet" led by Wim Kok was the first Dutch government without any Christian parties since 1918. Like many of his predecessors, Bolkestein remained in parliament. His political style was characterised as "opposition to one's own government. This style was very successful and the VVD gained another seven seats in the 1998 election, becoming the second largest party in parliament with thirty-eight seats. The VVD formed a second Purple cabinet with the Labour Party and D66. Bolkestein left Dutch politics in 1999 to become European Commissioner. He was replaced by the more technocratic and social liberal Hans Dijkstal.

In the heavily polarised Dutch general election of 2002, dominated by the rise and murder of Pim Fortuyn, the VVD lost fourteen seats, leaving only twenty-four. The VVD nonetheless entered a cabinet with the Christian Democratic Appeal and the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF). Dijkstal stood down and was replaced by the popular former Minister of Finance Gerrit Zalm. After a few months, Zalm "pulled the plug" on the First Balkenende cabinet, after infighting between LPF ministers Eduard Bomhoff and Herman Heinsbroek.

In the subsequent general election of 2003, the VVD with Gerrit Zalm as lead candidate gained four seats, making a total of twenty-eight. The party had expected to do much better, having adopted most of Fortuyn's proposals on immigration and integration. The VVD unwillingly entered the Second Balkenende cabinet with Zalm returning as Minister of Finance and as Deputy Prime Minister. On 2 September 2004, Geert Wilders, a Member of the House of Representatives, left the party after a dispute with parliamentary leader Van Aartsen. He chose to continue as an Independent in the House of Representatives. On 27 November 2004 Zalm was succeeded as party leader by the parliamentary leader in the House Jozias van Aartsen.

2006–2023: Rutte

In 2006, the party lost a considerable number of seats in the municipal elections, prompting parliamentary leader Van Aartsen to step down. Willibrord van Beek was subsequently appointed parliamentary leader ad interim. In the subsequent party leadership election Mark Rutte was elected as the leader, defeating Rita Verdonk and Jelleke Veenendaal.

The general election of 2006 did not start off well for the VVD: Mark Rutte was criticised by his own parliamentary party for being invisible in the campaign, and he was unable to break the attention away from the duel between then-Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Christian democrats and Wouter Bos of the Labour Party. However, the VVD's campaign started relatively late. The election polls showed losses for the VVD; the former VVD deputy Prime Minister Hans Wiegel blamed a poor VVD campaign for this, caused by the heavily contested VVD leadership run-off between Mark Rutte and Rita Verdonk earlier in the year. Verdonk had her eyes on the deputy-minister post, while cabinet posts are normally decided upon by the political leader of the VVD.

On election day, the party received enough votes for twenty-two seats, a loss of six seats. When the official election results were announced on Monday 27 November 2006, preferential votes became known as well, showing that Rita Verdonk, the second candidate on the list, had obtained more votes than the VVD's lead candidate, Mark Rutte. Rutte had received 553,200 votes, while Verdonk had received 620,555. This led Verdonk to call for a party commission that would investigate the party leadership position, as a consequence of the situation of her obtaining more votes in the general election than Rutte, creating a short-lived crisis in the party. A crisis was averted when Rutte called for an ultimatum on his leadership, which Verdonk had to reconcile to, by rejecting her proposal for a party commission. During 2007, signs of VVD infighting continued to play in the media. In June 2007, the former VVD minister Dekker presented a report on the previous election, showing that the VVD lacked clear leadership roles, however the report did not single out individuals for blame for the party's losses.

After Verdonk renewed her criticism of the party in September 2007, she was expelled from the parliamentary faction, and subsequently relinquished her membership of the party, after reconciliation attempts had proven futile. Verdonk started her own political movement, Proud of the Netherlands, subsequently. In opinion polls held after Verdonk's exit, the VVD was set to lose close to ten parliamentary seats in the next election.

2023–present: Yeşilgöz

After the fourth Rutte cabinet broke down due to disagreements over migration policy, a new election was called for 22 November 2023. Rutte announced that he would step down as leader of the VVD. Dilan Yeşilgöz became the new leader of the party in August 2023 after running unopposed in the leadership election.

Following the 2023 general election, the VVD was reduced to 24 seats in the House of Representatives. It entered formation talks with the Party for Freedom, the election winner, and the new parties New Social Contract and Farmer–Citizen Movement, leading to the right-wing Schoof cabinet.

Ideology and policies

Academic sources describe the VVD as conservative-liberal, liberal-conservative, and conservative. It was also described as classical liberal and libertarian by sources between 2006 and 2012.

The VVD describes itself as a party founded on a liberal philosophy. Traditionally, the party is the most ardent supporter of 'free markets' of all Dutch political parties, promoting political, economic liberalism, classical liberalism, and cultural liberalism. In contrast to this, it has helped build the welfare state since 1945. After 1971, the party became more populist, although some conservative liberal elements remain.

Liberal Manifesto

The principles of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy were outlined in the "Liberal Manifesto" (Dutch: Liberaal Manifest) and latterly the election programmes. The Liberal Manifesto was a general outlook on the direction of the party would like to mirror itself and is an extension of the party's foundational principles. The election programmes are more oriented to practical politics, for example, winning the elections on-the-day and by any means possible. The last Liberal Manifesto of the VVD was published in September 2005. It developed a broad outline around the themes of democracy, security, freedom and citizenship, along with a vision of the future of party's internal structure. Below some of the points from the Manifesto are presented:

The Manifesto calls for a directly elected Prime Minister, whereby voters could express their preference on the ballot.

The idea of (advisory) referendums is not supported by the party.

Mayors should be directly elected by the people.

Commitment to the four freedoms of the European Single Market.

A common policy on defence and security in the European Union is called for.

The principle of non-discrimination should be given more importance than the exercise of religion.

"Social rights" are to be continued. These are not simply rights, but they also create obligations.

Euthanasia is part of a person's right to self-determination.

Commitment to an open economy, with a "regulated free-market", including patents.

Support for the freedom of contract. No right for workers to enter into nationally binding collective bargaining agreements.

Migration

The VVD has supported the free movement of goods and people within the European single market, and it has historically opposed limits to labour migration. Since the early 2020s, the party has argued in favour of reducing the reliance of the Dutch economy on unskilled foreign labour.

Election results

Representation

Representation in EU institutions

In the European Committee of the Regions, VVD sits in the Renew Europe CoR Group, with two full and three alternate members for the 2025–2030 mandate. Arthur van Dijk is a bureau member of the Renew Europe CoR group and Martijn van Gruijthuijsen is coordinator for the ECON Commission.

Electorate

Historically, the VVD electorate consisted mainly of secular middle-class and upper-class voters, with a strong support from entrepreneurs. Under the leadership of Wiegel, the VVD started to expand its appeal to working class voters.

Organisation

Organisational structure

The highest organ of the VVD is the General Assembly, in which all members present have a single vote. It convenes usually twice every year. It appoints the party board and decides on the party programme.

The order of the First Chamber, Second Chamber and European Parliament candidates list is decided by a referendum under all members voting by internet, phone or mail. If contested, the lead candidate of a candidates lists is appointed in a separate referendum in advance. Since 2002 the General Assembly can call for a referendum on other subjects too.

About 90 members elected by the members in meetings of the regional branches form the Party Council, which advises the Party Board in the months that the General Assembly does not convene. This is an important forum within the party. The party board handles the daily affairs of the party.

Linked organisations

The independent youth organisation that has a partnership agreement with the VVD is the Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy (Dutch: Jongeren Organisatie Vrijheid en Democratie, JOVD), which is a member of the Liberal Youth Movement of the European Union and the International Federation of Liberal and Radical Youth.

The education institute of the VVD is the Haya van Someren Foundation. The Telders Foundation is the party's scientific institute and publishes the magazine Liberaal Reveil every two months. The party published the magazine Liber bi-monthly.

International organisations

The VVD is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and Liberal International.

The VVD participates in the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, a democracy assistance organisation of seven Dutch political parties.