General elections were held in the Netherlands on 17 May 1946,^[1] the first after World War II. The Catholic People's Party, a continuation of the pre-war Roman Catholic State Party, remained the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 32 of the 100 seats.^[2]

Quick Facts Turnout, Party ...

1946 Dutch general election

← 1937 17 May 1946 1948 →
All 100 seats in the House of Representatives 51 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	93.1% ( 1.3 pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/– KVP Carl Romme 30.8% 32 +1 PvdA Willem Drees 28.3% 29 −2 ARP Jan Schouten 12.9% 13 −4 CPN Paul de Groot 10.6% 10 +7 CHU Hendrik Tilanus 7.8% 8 0 PvdV Steven Bierema 6.4% 6 +2 SGP Pieter Zandt 2.1% 2 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Cabinet before Cabinet after Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet KVP–PvdA–ARP First Beel cabinet KVP–PvdA

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Following the elections, the Catholic People's Party formed a grand coalition government with the Labour Party.

Indicated changes in seats are compared to the Schermerhorn-Drees cabinet appointed by Queen Wilhelmina after World War II.

More information Party, Votes ...

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Catholic People's Party	1,466,582	30.81	32	+1
	Labour Party	1,347,940	28.31	29	–1
	Anti-Revolutionary Party	614,201	12.90	13	–4
	Communist Party of the Netherlands	502,963	10.56	10	+7
	Christian Historical Union	373,217	7.84	8	0
	Freedom Party	305,287	6.41	6	+2
	Reformed Political Party	101,759	2.14	2	0
	Protestant Union	32,020	0.67	0	New
	Dutch Bellamy Party	11,205	0.24	0	New
	Lopes Group	5,537	0.12	0	New
Total		4,760,711	100.00	100	0
Valid votes		4,760,711	96.92
Invalid/blank votes		151,304	3.08
Total votes		4,912,015	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		5,275,888	93.10
Source: Nederlandse verkiezingsuitslagen

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By province

More information Province, KVP ...

Results by province^[3]

Province	KVP	PvdA	ARP	CPN	CHU	PvdV	SGP	Others
Drenthe	5.8	39.4	19.2	7.1	12.0	15.8	0.2	0.5
Friesland	6.7	37.5	23.8	10.1	15.6	4.7	0.7	0.9
Gelderland	31.6	28.3	12.0	4.5	13.0	6.4	3.5	0.7
Groningen	5.5	35.5	22.5	14.6	9.3	11.2	0.1	1.3
Limburg	79.6	12.5	0.9	5.6	0.5	0.6	0.2	-
North Brabant	77.7	12.5	3.3	2.2	2.3	1.1	0.6	0.3
North Holland	23.2	32.6	10.0	21.1	4.2	7.0	0.5	1.5
Overijssel	26.6	28.7	13.9	10.4	10.9	5.4	2.7	1.4
South Holland	18.6	31.9	16.6	11.3	8.2	8.5	3.6	1.3
Southern IJsselmeer Polders	23.4	28.8	17.2	18.3	7.4	2.0	1.6	1.4
Utrecht	25.8	29.1	17.3	7.6	9.6	6.2	3.5	1.0
Zeeland	20.9	24.6	16.3	2.8	17.3	7.2	9.8	1.2

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