1977 Dutch general election

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 25 May 1977.[1] The Labour Party remained the largest party, winning 53 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.[2] Following the election, it took 208 days of negotiations to form a new government. This was a European record for longest government formation that stood until after the 2010 Belgian general election.[3] The Christian Democratic Appeal was formed by the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP), Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the Catholic People's Party (KVP) in 1976. The first joint party leader was a member of the KVP, Dries van Agt.

1977 Dutch general election

25 May 1977
Turnout	88.1%
Party Leader % Seats ± PvdA Joop den Uyl 33.8% 53 +10 CDA Dries van Agt 31.9% 49 +1 VVD Hans Wiegel 17.9% 28 +6 D66 Jan Terlouw 5.4% 8 +2 SGP Hette Abma 2.1% 3 0 CPN Marcus Bakker 1.7% 2 -5 PPR Ria Beckers 1.6% 3 -4 GPV Bart Verbrugh 0.9% 1 -1 PSP Bram van der Lek 0.9% 1 -1 BP Hendrik Koekoek 0.8% 1 -2 DS'70 Willem Drees Jr. 0.7% 1 -5 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Joop den Uyl PvdA Dries van Agt CDA

Eventually a coalition was formed between the Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy with Dries van Agt as Prime Minister.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Labour Party	2,813,793	33.83	53	+10
	Christian Democratic Appeal	2,652,278	31.89	49	+1
	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	1,492,689	17.95	28	+6
	Democrats 66	452,423	5.44	8	+2
	Reformed Political Party	177,010	2.13	3	0
	Communist Party of the Netherlands	143,481	1.73	2	–5
	Political Party of Radicals	140,910	1.69	3	–4
	Reformed Political League	79,421	0.95	1	–1
	Pacifist Socialist Party	77,972	0.94	1	–1
	Farmers' Party	69,914	0.84	1	–2
	Democratic Socialists '70	59,487	0.72	1	–5
	Reformatory Political Federation	53,220	0.64	0	New
	Dutch Peoples-Union	33,434	0.40	0	New
	Roman Catholic Party of the Netherlands	33,227	0.40	0	–1
	Socialist Party	24,420	0.29	0	New
	Federation of Elderly Parties of the Netherlands	4,379	0.05	0	New
	Union Against Arbitrariness of Civil Servants	4,110	0.05	0	New
	Communist Unity Movement of the Netherlands	2,649	0.03	0	New
	Democratic Action Centre	2,150	0.03	0	New
	Party of the Taxpayers	201	0.00	0	New
	European Conservative Union	197	0.00	0	New
	Jusia List	91	0.00	0	New
	Dutch Middle Class Party	89	0.00	0	0
	Griek List	67	0.00	0	New
Total		8,317,612	100.00	150	0
Valid votes		8,317,612	99.42
Invalid/blank votes		48,217	0.58
Total votes		8,365,829	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,497,999	88.08
Source: Kiesraad

Popular Vote PvdA   33.83% CDA   31.89% VVD   17.95% D66   5.44% SGP   2.13% CPN   1.73% PPR   1.69% GPV   0.95% PSP   0.94% BP   0.84% DS70   0.72% RPF   0.64% Other   1.26%

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1396 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1414
3. Laurent Thomet (January 8, 2011). "Belgium's shoddy political record poses financial threat". Retrieved 2011-01-27. Without a government for nearly seven months, Belgium now holds a dubious record in Europe and with no end in sight to the political crisis, fears are growing of a backlash from watchful markets. The divided country on Saturday broke the 208-day mark set by the Netherlands in 1977 for being without a government.