General elections were held in the Netherlands on 5 July 1922.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1395 They were the first elections held under universal suffrage, which became reality after the acceptance of a proposal by Henri Marchant in 1919 that gave women full voting rights.1922 parliamentary election campaign, University of Groningen Almost all major parties had a woman elected. The number of female representatives increased from one to seven. Only the Anti-Revolutionary Party principally excluded women from the House of Representatives. Another amendment to the electoral law increased the electoral threshold from 0.5% to 0.75%,Nohlen & Stöver, p1385 after six parties had won seats with less than 0.75% of the vote in the previous elections.
The General League of Roman Catholic Electoral Associations remained the largest party, increasing from 30 to 32 seats, whilst the Anti-Revolutionary Party increased from 13 to 16 seats, and the Christian Historical Union went from 7 to 11 seats.Nohlen & Stöver, p1412 The left-wing Christian Democratic Party and the Christian Social Party both lost their sole seats, disappearing from the House, while the Reformed Political Party (SGP) won a seat. The SGP, an orthodox Protestant party established in 1918, was opposed to the co-operation of the Protestant ARP and CHU with the Catholics.
The Social Democratic Workers' Party lost two seats, whilst left-wing splinter parties also suffered losses, and went from four to two seats. Uniquely, the 1922 general election also fielded the first immigrant candidate to stand for election to the Dutch House of Representatives; Indonesian revolutionary, Tan Malaka. He ran under the Communist Party of Holland's third candidate. Though he did not take the seat.
Several liberal groups had merged in 1921 to form the Liberal State Party, but lost further seats as they were reduced from fifteen to only ten. However, a new Liberal Party led by the 85 year old Samuel van Houten, won a seat. Van Houten himself did not take the seat, which was instead occupied by his representative, Lizzy van Dorp.
The Free-thinking Democratic League maintained, against most expectations, their five seats, whilst of the remaining splinter parties, only the Peasants' League was able to survive, rising from one to two seats.
After a relatively short formation, the second Ruijs de Beerenbrouck cabinet was formed, with largely the same composition as the previous one.
Results
See also List of candidates in the 1922 Dutch general election
References