1918 Dutch general election

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 3 July 1918.[1] They were the first elections held after a series of reforms that introduced universal male suffrage and pure proportional representation, replacing the previous system using first-past-the-post voting in single member constituencies.[2] This change was known as the Great Pacification, which also included the introduction of state financing of religious schools, and led to the start of consociational democracy.[3]

1918 Dutch general election

3 July 1918
Turnout	88.6%
Party Leader % Seats ± ABRKK Willem Hubert Nolens 30.0% 30 +6 SDAP Pieter Jelles Troelstra 22.0% 22 +7 ARP Abraham Kuyper 13.4% 13 +1 CHU Alexander de Savornin Lohman 6.5% 7 -2 LU Eduard Ellis van Raalte 6.2% 6 -15 VDB Henri Marchant 5.3% 5 -3 BVL Alibert Cornelis Visser van IJzendoorn 3.8% 4 -6 EB Willem Treub 3.1% 3 New SDP David Wijnkoop 2.3% 2 New MP Abraham Staalman 0.9% 1 New CDP Andries Staalman 0.8% 1 New SP Harm Kolthek 0.7% 1 New BCS Willy Kruyt 0.6% 1 New CSP Adolf van der Laar 0.6% 1 New NP Henri ter Hall 0.5% 1 New VDB Willem Wijk 0.5% 1 New PB Michelle Larson 0.4% 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Pieter Cort van der Linden LU Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck ABRKK

Netherlands
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Netherlands
Constitution Charter Wet Algemene Bepalingen Human rights
Monarchy King Willem-Alexander Council of Ministers Ministers Plenipotentiary Aruba Curaçao St. Maarten
Cabinet Prime Minister (list) Mark Rutte Deputy Prime Ministers Hugo de Jonge Kajsa Ollongren Carola Schouten Ministries
States General Senate President: Ankie Broekers-Knol Current membership Historic composition House of Representatives Speaker: Khadija Arib Current membership Historic composition Parliamentary committees
Judiciary Supreme Court High Councils of State Council of State Court of Audit National Ombudsman
Elections Recent elections General: 2010 2012 2017 Provincial: 2011 2015 2019 Municipal: 2010 2014 2018 European: 2009 2014 2019 Referendums Referendums: 2005 2016 2018 Political parties Politicians
Local government Provincial politics Water boards Municipal politics BES islands
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Stef Blok Diplomatic missions of / in the Netherlands Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy of the Schengen Area Visa policy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean
Related topics Corruption in the Netherlands De Nederlandsche Bank Law of the Netherlands Modern history Republicanism in the Netherlands Social Economic Council
Other countries

The change in the electoral system led to major changes in the political make-up of the House of Representatives. The confessional right-wing parties, the General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses, the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union, together won 50 seats. Along with two Christian splinter-parties (the Christian Democratic Party and the Christian Social Party) they were able to gain a majority of 52 seats.

The liberal parties lost the most seats. While in 1917, two of the liberal parties, the Liberal Union and the League of Free Liberals, had won 31 seats, they were now reduced to 10 seats. Together with three smaller liberal parties, liberals now held only 15 seats in the House of representatives.

The fragmentation of the House was caused by the low electoral threshold of just 0.5%, with the smallest party, the Alliance for the Democratisation of the Army, managing to win a seat with only 6,830 votes.