Democrats 66
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Democrats 66 is a social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. Its name originates from the year in which it was founded.
D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system. In the 1967 general election, the party won 7 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives; no new party had ever gained that many seats before. The electoral history of the party is characterised by large fluctuations. They won a maximum of 24 seats, and currently (following the Dutch general election, 2017) they have 19. The party was in government from 1973 to 1977, 1981 to 1982, 1994 to 2002 and 2003 to 2006 and is again since 2017. Over time the party began to emphasise other issues in addition to democratic reform, creating a social-liberal programme.
In addition to its seats in the House of Representatives, it holds 10 in the Senate and 4 in the European Parliament. The party leader and parliamentary leader is Alexander Pechtold. The party has a growing number of elected local and provincial politicians and supplies a relatively large proportion of mayors, who are appointed. The party's voters are concentrated in larger cities, especially among people who hold a university degree, and in towns with an above-average number of wealthy citizens.
D66 is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
See also
- Social liberalism
- Liberalism
- Contributions to liberal theory
- Liberalism worldwide
- List of liberal parties
- Liberal democracy
- Liberalism in the Netherlands
