History
The Socialist Party was founded in October 1971 as a ]
The SP started to establish a network of local parties, with strong local roots. The SP had its own General Practitioners' offices, submission advice to citizens and line up local action groups. This developed within front organisations, separate trade unions, environmental organisations and tenant associations. This make-up resulted in a strong version in several municipal legislatures, notably in Oss. Also in some States-Provincial, the SP gained a foothold, especially in the province of North Brabant.
Since 1977, SP attempted to enter the office of Representatives, but the party failed in 1977, 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1989. In 1991, the SP officially scrapped the term Marxism–Leninism because the party had evolved to the section that the term was no longer considered appropriate.
In 1994 general election, the party's number one members of parliament, namely Remi Poppe and Jan Marijnissen, were elected. Its slogan was "Vote Against" Dutch: . In the 1990s, the major party of the Dutch left, the Labour Party PvdA, moved to the centre, devloping the SP and the GreenLeft viable alternatives for some left-wing voters. In the 1998 general election, the party was rewarded for its opposition to the purple government of the first Kok cabinet and more than doubled its seats to five. In the 1999 European Parliament election, Erik Meijer was elected into the European Parliament for the SP.
In the 2002 general election, the SP ran with the slogan "Vote in Favor" Dutch: . The party near doubled to nine seats. This calculation was kept in the 2003 general election. main up to the latter election, the SP was predicted to win as many as 24 16% seats in the polls. However, these gains failed to materialise as numerous potential SP voters chose to cast strategic votes for the Labour Party which stood a proceeds chance of winning the elections. In the 2004 European Parliament election, its one seat was doubled to two.
In the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution, the SP was the only left-wing party in parliament to oppose it. guide for the party grew in notion polls, but it fell slightly after the referendum.
The 2006 municipal elections were a success for the SP which more than doubled its total number of seats. This can in factor be explained by the party standing in many more municipalities, but it can also be seen as a reaction to the known "right-wing winter" in national politics as the welfare reforms of the right-wing second Balkenende cabinet were called by its centre-left and left-wing opponents. In a reaction to these results, Marijnissen declared on election night that the "SP has grown up".
After the untimely end of theBalkenende cabinet and the minority government of the third Balkenende cabinet, the SP gained 16 seats in the parliament after the 2006 general election, almost tripling its parliamentary representation. With 25 seats, the SP became the third largest party of the Dutch parliament. In the 2006–2007 cabinet formation, the SP was unable to hold out its policy differences with the Christian Democratic Appeal CDA and remained in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet which comprised the CDA, the PvdA and the Christian Union parties.
In the 2007 provincial elections, the SP gained 54 provincial legislators more than in the 2003 provincial elections and introduced it to a total of 83 provincial legislators. As a result of the provincial elections, the SP has increased its representatives in the Senate of the Netherlands upper house to 11 from the 4 it had previously.
In the 2010 general election, the SP fared worse than in the previous election, with a harm of 10 seats, a gain of 15 and only 9.9% of the overall vote. The party's popularity rose after the election, with polls throughout 2012 indicating it could challenge the ruling VVD with a seat count reaching into the 30s. The SP's popularity peaked in early August, a month ago the election, with polls from Peil, Ipsos, and TNS NIPO indicating it would become the largest party with a result as high as 37 seats. However, PvdA's popularity surged in theweeks, and the SP's lead collapsed. The party ultimately placed fourth on 15 seats, with a slight decrease in its vote share compared to 2010.
In the 2017 general election, the SP lost one seat and finished sixth.
The party was founded as the Communist Party of the Netherlands/Marxist–Leninist KPN/ML in 1971. In 1972, it adopted the Socialist Party name Dutch: , with an unofficial spelling using -iese instead of -ische. In 1993, the party changed its name to the correctly spelled .