electionstracker

Netherlands 1986 general election

What was the result of the 1986 general election in the Netherlands?

Christian Democratic Appeal won 54 of 150 seats with 34.6% of the vote. 85.8% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Netherlands
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Christian Democratic Appeal won 54 of 150 seats with 34.6% of the vote; 85.8% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 4.8 points on 1982.

  • Christian Democratic Appeal 54 +9 seats 34.6% +5.2 points
  • Labour Party 52 +5 seats 33.3% +2.9 points
  • People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 27 −9 seats 17.4% −5.7 points
  • Democrats 66 9 +3 seats 6.1% +1.9 points
  • Reformed Political Party 3 0 seats 1.7% −0.2 points
  • Political Party of Radicals 2 0 seats 1.3% −0.4 points
  • Pacifist Socialist Party 1 −2 seats 1.2% −1.1 points
  • Reformed Political League 1 0 seats 1.0% +0.1 points
  • Reformatory Political Federation 1 −1 seat 0.9% −0.6 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Netherlands 1982 general election, party by party.

76 of 150 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 34.6%

    Share of the vote won by Christian Democratic Appeal

    Christian Democratic Appeal won 54 of 150 seats. A majority needs 76.

  2. +9 seats

    Seats gained by Christian Democratic Appeal

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1982. People's Party for Freedom and Democracy lost 9 seats.

  3. 85.8%

    Voter turnout

    Up 4.8 points on 1982.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Christian Democratic Appeal54+934.6+5.23,172,918
Labour Party52+533.3+2.93,051,678
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy27−917.4−5.71,596,991
Democrats 669+36.1+1.9562,466
Reformed Political Party301.7−0.2159,740
Political Party of Radicals201.3−0.4115,203
Pacifist Socialist Party1−21.2−1.1110,182
Reformed Political League101.0+0.188,381
Reformatory Political Federation1−10.9−0.683,582
Communist Party of the Netherlands0−30.6−1.257,847

± is the change against the Netherlands 1982 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Christian Democratic Appeal 3,172,918
  • Labour Party 3,051,678
  • People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 1,596,991
  • Democrats 66 562,466
  • Reformed Political Party 159,740
  • Political Party of Radicals 115,203
  • Pacifist Socialist Party 110,182
  • Reformed Political League 88,381
  • Reformatory Political Federation 83,582
  • Communist Party of the Netherlands 57,847

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

85.8% of the 10,727,701 registered voters cast a ballot (9,199,621 ballots), up 4.8 points on 1982. 9,172,159 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Christian Democratic Appeal34.6% of votes36.0% of seats
  • Labour Party33.3% of votes34.7% of seats
  • People's Party for Freedom and Democracy17.4% of votes18.0% of seats
  • Democrats 666.1% of votes6.0% of seats
  • Reformed Political Party1.7% of votes2.0% of seats
  • Political Party of Radicals1.3% of votes1.3% of seats
  • Pacifist Socialist Party1.2% of votes0.7% of seats
  • Reformed Political League1.0% of votes0.7% of seats
  • Reformatory Political Federation0.9% of votes0.7% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 1.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.8 by votes and 3.5 by seats; Christian Democratic Appeal led Labour Party by 1.3 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of