This was announced by the Documentation Center for Dutch Political Parties (DNPP) of the University of Groningen on Thursday. On January 1 of this year, D66 had 2,166 more members than a year earlier and with a growth of 8.7 percent, it is the largest riser. According to the DNPP, the growth can largely be attributed to the leadership of Sigrid Kaag, who became leader of the party in September 2020.
GroenLinks is also doing well, with an increase of 7.4 percent. The PvDD and VVD both grew about the same at 4.5 percent. For the VVD this means the first increase after years of underutilisation.
Quarrels within a party drive members away. For example, 50Plus struggled with conflicts over the party chairmanship and the party leader through 2020 and saw 2,166 of the 4,982 members leave. This means that the elderly party will shrink by almost 27 percent. Also think that last year almost went under a ‘fratricide‘, had 6.3 percent fewer members on January 1 than a year earlier.
Question marks
The autumn of the FvD was an inimitable soap filled with runaway MEPs, senators, members of Parliament, municipal councilors and a Member of Parliament. Yet in 2020, the FvD said it added 1,606 members and thus grew to 45,322 members, the most of all political parties. However, the DNPP has doubts about the membership records of the FvD.
In October, the party already struggled with subsidy problems, because the membership records turned out to be a mess. In October, nine thousand members also spoke out in a referendum against party leader Thierry Baudet: did they all stay after he stayed on? According to the DNPP, FvD did not respond to several requests for clarification. It is the only party that does not provide insight into the number of departed and new party members, but only reports a positive balance.
The CDA remains in the malaise when it comes to membership numbers. The Christian Democrats had 1,812 fewer members on January 1 than the year before, a decrease of 4.6 percent. Within the CDA there were some struggles around party leadership, but it was not a major member-chasing conflict. The exodus at the CDA is part of a broader development: the number of members has been declining almost continuously since the eighties. Nevertheless, with 37,375 members, the CDA is still the third party in the Netherlands (after FvD and PvdA).
Other parties saw little difference on the meter. They experienced a small increase (ChristenUnie) or a minimal decrease (SP, PvdA and SGP). There was only one party with complete stability: the PVV, of which only Geert Wilders is a member. In total, the number of members of the parties in the House of Representatives grew by 4,228.
–
