Dutch elections: Green-Labour alliance

The GreenLeft-Labour alliance saw a decline in support in the October 2025 Dutch elections, falling to the fourth largest political force after losing 3 per cent of the vote and five seats compared to 2023. The analysis attributes this failure to a poorly managed campaign and the surge of the social-liberal D66, which successfully appealed to university-educated voters. Despite the loss, the alliance consolidated support among left-wing progressives, though it failed to recover the Labour Party's traditional working-class base. The two parties are now preparing for a full merger in 2026.

• The joint list of GreenLeft and the Labour Party performed poorly in the 29 October 2025 elections, losing 3 per cent of the vote and five seats relative to 2023, which resulted in the alliance dropping from the second to the fourth largest political force in the Netherlands.
• The alliance's failure is attributed to a campaign that lacked focus, a leadership isolated from the party, and the effectiveness of D66, which projected an 'optimistic vibe' and attracted voters from both the Right and Left in the final weeks.
• The GreenLeft-Labour alliance and D66 compete for a similar demographic, with both parties receiving approximately 20 per cent of their votes from university-educated citizens, while both performed worst among those with vocational college degrees.
• The alliance has strong support among voters who are both economically left-wing and culturally progressive (50 per cent), but it struggles with culturally conservative voters, regardless of their economic views.
• The alliance's manifesto shifted toward the right on migration, accepting a maximum number of immigrants, criticizing labour migration as a cause of social problems, and endorsing the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum.
• The cooperation between GreenLeft and Labour has not succeeded in reversing the decline of the Labour Party's traditional working-class base that began in 2017.

APA

Otjes, S. (2025). Dutch elections: Green-Labour alliance. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/dutch-elections-green-labour-alliance/

Chicago

Otjes, Simon. Dutch elections: Green-Labour alliance. Green European Journal, 2025. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/dutch-elections-green-labour-alliance/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Otjes |first1=Simon |title=Dutch elections: Green-Labour alliance |publisher=Green European Journal |date=18 December 2025 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/dutch-elections-green-labour-alliance/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{otjes2025dutch, author = {Otjes, Simon}, title = {{Dutch elections: Green-Labour alliance}}, institution = {Green European Journal}, year = {2025}, month = dec, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/dutch-elections-green-labour-alliance/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }