Volt Netherlands

Volt Nederland was founded in Utrecht on 23 June 2018, with Reinier van Lanschot as its inaugural chairman.[4] The party owes its start and establishment partly to donations through crowdfunding.[5]

The 2019 European Parliament election was the first election in which Volt took part. The party obtained 106,004 votes in the Netherlands, more than 100,000 votes too few for a seat. The party received most of its votes in university cities, such as Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht, and Wageningen. Although the Dutch chapter of Volt was unable to win a seat in the European Parliament, it is currently represented by the German chapter, which obtained one seat.

In 2021, the party participated in the Dutch general election. On 25 October 2020, the party adopted its candidate list, with Laurens Dassen as the lead candidate.[6] In early 2021, the Electoral Council announced that Volt would participate in all 20 electoral districts.[lower-alpha 1][7] National opinion polling typically excluded the party until six weeks before the election, when its popularity increased; a number of polls in the days leading up to election day projected Volt Netherlands to win up to three seats.[8] Volt ultimately won 2.4% of votes, its best national performance in any election to date, and three seats, marking the party's first entrance into a national legislature.[9][10] The three seats of Volt were filled by Laurens Dassen, Nilüfer Gündoğan, and Marieke Koekkoek. The latter was elected because of individual preference votes.[11][12][13]

In February 2022, Gündoğan was expelled from the parliamentary group and suspended from the party after thirteen party members had accused her of undesirable behavior. She filed charges of libel and defamation against Volt, Dassen, and her accusers, and challenged the expulsion in civil court.[14] The court reinstated her, ruling that Volt had not followed proper procedure. Dassen apologized.[15] Volt subsequently appealed the verdict, Dassen and Koekkoek[lower-alpha 2] changed its parliamentary rules and Gündoğan was expelled from both the party and the parliamentary group.[16] She did not relinquish her seat, so she currently sits as an independent.

For the local elections of 2022, 25 local chapters of the party had registered. However, according to party statements, Volt Netherlands had failed to achieve gender-equal lists of candidates in some municipalities and was therefore contesting in fewer places than planned.[17]

• Volt Netherlands co-founder Reinier van Lanschot speaking at the establishment of the party on 23 June 2018
• Volt Netherlands' campaign advertisement for the 2019 European Parliament election (in Dutch)