Not since the mid-eighties have so many Dutch people been members of a political party as now. On January 1, 2026, all parties together had no fewer than 448,100 members. That is more than 57,000 more than a year earlier. For decades, fewer than 400,000 Dutch people had party membership. This is evident from a monitor published on Friday by the Documentation Center for Dutch Political Parties at the University of Groningen.
The researchers ask parties to report their membership numbers annually in good faith. Those numbers cannot be checked. Forum for Democracy has included a statement from an accountant confirming the stated number of members, the Documentation Center reports. With more than 70,000 members, the radical right party is the largest membership party in the country.
The radical party with the highest number of seats in the House of Representatives (PVV, 19) is missing from the list of the Documentation Center. After all, becoming a member of the PVV is impossible; founder Geert Wilders is the only member.
Almost all parties in the House of Representatives added members last year – but the NSC, founded by Pieter Omtzigt, disappeared from parliament in November and saw a third of its members walk away. BBB lost 7.9 percent of its membership.
The greatest growth, both relatively and in absolute numbers, is at GroenLinks. The left-progressive party gained 16,258 members. That is several dozen more than the PvdA. In the run-up to the merger between the two parties, many people took out dual membership. If GroenLinks and PvdA actually merge this summer, those dual memberships will no longer count. GroenLinks now has about 62,000 members, PvdA more than 64,000. Election winner D66 gained a quarter of new members, making it the fourth member party.
Historian and director of the Documentation Center for Dutch Political Parties, Carla Hoetink, attributes the increase in the number of members to the House of Representatives elections of October 2025: parties then do “relatively well” and “the media interest is extra great.” “Nevertheless, the increase in the past year was particularly strong, while unlike in 2021 (BBB) and 2023 (NSC), no new parties broke through.”
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