# 2004 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

An election of Members of the European Parliament representing Netherlands constituency for the 2004–2009 term of the European Parliament was held on 10 June 2004. It was part of the wider 2004 European election. Fifteen parties competed in a D'Hondt type election for 27 seats (down from 31).

## Background
### Combined lists

Several parties combined in one list to take part in this European Election and increase their chance on a seat in the European Parliament. These combined lists are:
* Christian Union and SGP

### Electoral alliances

Several parties formed an electoral alliance:
* PvdA/European Social-Democrats and GreenLeft
* CDA/European People's Party and Christian Union-SGP
* VVD/European Liberal-Democrats and Democrats 66
The alliance between Christian Democratic Appeal and Christian Union-SGP cost the Christian Democratic Appeal a seat, which goes to Christian Union-SGP. Other alliances had no effect on the result.

### Treaty of Nice

The exact number of seats allocated to each country is determined by the treaties, currently the Treaty of Nice, and is adjusted by the accession treaty of each new member. Hence no change to the seats occurs without ratification by all states. According to the treaties, the maximum number of members in the Parliament is 732. This why the seats for the Netherlands was reduced from 31 to 27

### Numbering of the candidates list

The official order and names of candidate lists:
Candidate lists for the European Parliament election in the Netherlands :
| ← 1999 2004 2009 → ||||||
| Lists |||||
| List | List | List | English translation | List name (Dutch) |
| 1 | | list | CDA - European People's Party | CDA – Europese Volkspartij |
| 2 | | list | P.v.d.A./European Social Democrats | P.v.d.A./Europese Sociaaldemocraten |
| 3 | | list | VVD - European Liberal-Democrats | VVD – Europese Liberaal-Democraten |
| 4 | | list | GREENLEFT | GROENLINKS |
| 5 | | list | Christian Union-SGP | ChristenUnie–SGP |
| 6 | | list | Democrats 66 (D66) | Democraten 66 (D66) |
| 7 | | list | SP (Socialist Party) | SP (Socialistische Partij) |
| 8 | | list | Democratic Europe | Democratisch Europa |
| 9 | | list | LIVABLE EUROPE | LEEFBAAR EUROPA |
| 10 | | list | Party for the North | Partij voor het Noorden |
| 11 | | list | New Right | Nieuw Rechts |
| 12 | | list | Europe Transparent | Europa Transparant |
| 13 | | list | List Pim Fortuyn (LPF) | Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF) |
| 14 | | list | Party for the Animals | Partij voor de Dieren |
| 15 | | list | Respect.now | Respect.Nu |

## Results

According to the European Commission, the publication of national results prior to Sunday evening is considered illegal. However, all the municipalities in the Netherlands published the results on Thursday, giving the media the opportunity to give an almost complete national result, only missing votes cast abroad. The complete and official result were publicised according to the rules.
The ruling centre-right parties, the Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy polled poorly, while the opposition Labour Party and Socialist Party gained ground. The anti-fraud party Europe Transparent of whistleblower Paul van Buitenen unexpectedly won two seats. Voter turnout was 39.26%, a lot higher than the turnout in 1999 30.02%.
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
| | Christian Democratic Appeal | 1,164,431 | 24.43 | 7 | –2 |
| | Labour Party | 1,124,549 | 23.60 | 7 | +1 |
| | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 629,198 | 13.20 | 4 | –2 |
| | GroenLinks | 352,201 | 7.39 | 2 | –2 |
| | Europe Transparent | 349,156 | 7.33 | 2 | New |
| | Socialist Party | 332,326 | 6.97 | 2 | +1 |
| | Christian Union – Reformed Political Party | 279,880 | 5.87 | 2 | –1 |
| | Democrats 66 | 202,502 | 4.25 | 1 | –1 |
| | Party for the Animals | 153,432 | 3.22 | 0 | New |
| | Pim Fortuyn List | 121,509 | 2.55 | 0 | New |
| | Party for the North | 18,234 | 0.38 | 0 | New |
| | New Right | 15,732 | 0.33 | 0 | New |
| | Liveable Europe | 9,144 | 0.19 | 0 | New |
| | Democratic Europe | 8,780 | 0.18 | 0 | New |
| | Respect.now | 4,603 | 0.10 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 4,765,677 | 100.00 | 27 | –4 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 4,765,677 | 99.76 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 11,444 | 0.24 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 4,777,121 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 12,168,878 | 39.26 | | |
| Source: Kiesraad ||||||

### European groups

The EPP-ED group lost 2 seats, making it just as big as the PES group. The ELDR becomes 3rd group after PES. After the elections ELDR and European Democratic Party (EDP) formed a new European Group named ALDE in the European parliament. The EDP did not have member party's in the Netherlands. Also the Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) group reforms itself with party's from Eastern-Europe. They rename their group to Independence/Democracy (ID). The Christian Union – Reformed Political Party is part of this new group.
Summary of the 10 June 2004 European Parliament elections in the Netherlands :
| ← 1999 2004 2009 → |||||||||||
| European group | European group | European group | Seats 1999 | Seats 2004 | Change |
| | European People's Party–European Democrats | EPP-ED | 9 | 7 | 2 |
| | Party of European Socialists | PES | 6 | 7 | 1 |
| | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe | ALDE | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| | The Greens–European Free Alliance | Greens-EFA | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| | European United Left–Nordic Green Left | EUL-NGL | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| | Independence/Democracy | IND&DEM | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| | Non-Inscrits | NI | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | | | 31 | 27 | 4 |