# 1977 Dutch general election

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 25 May 1977. The Labour Party remained the largest party, winning 53 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. 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. 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.
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

| | 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 People's 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 | Total | 8,317,612 | 100.00 | 150 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 8,317,612 | 99.42 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 48,217 | 0.58 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 8,365,829 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 9,497,999 | 88.08 | | |
| Source: Kiesraad ||||||

### By province

Results by province :
| Province | PvdA | CDA | VVD | D'66 | SGP | CPN | PPR | GPV | PSP | BP | DS'70 | Others |
| Drenthe | 41.5 | 27.1 | 18.2 | 4.4 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 1.5 |
| Friesland | 37.3 | 37.4 | 12.3 | 4.4 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.3 |
| Gelderland | 30.8 | 35.5 | 17.2 | 4.8 | 3.7 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| Groningen | 42.4 | 24.3 | 14.4 | 4.4 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 1.9 | 4.0 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Limburg | 30.1 | 44.6 | 14.7 | 3.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 2.0 |
| North Brabant | 28.8 | 43.7 | 15.7 | 5.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| North Holland | 35.4 | 22.9 | 21.7 | 7.3 | 0.5 | 4.5 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| Overijssel | 31.0 | 39.5 | 13.2 | 4.2 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 2.5 |
| South Holland | 37.9 | 24.6 | 19.9 | 6.1 | 3.8 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 2.0 |
| Southern IJsselmeer Polders | 33.1 | 29.0 | 18.9 | 6.7 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 2.4 |
| Utrecht | 28.2 | 30.5 | 22.1 | 6.6 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 2.3 |
| Zeeland | 32.6 | 29.8 | 17.3 | 4.4 | 8.4 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.9 |