New Middle Party

Netherlands

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Netherlands

Kingdom Council of Ministers Minister Plenipotentiary of Aruba Minister Plenipotentiary of Curaçao Minister Plenipotentiary of Sint Maarten Constitution Charter Constitution Wet Algemene Bepalingen Human Rights Monarchy Queen Beatrix Prince Willem-Alexander (heir apparent) States-General Senate Historic composition House of Representatives Current composition Historic composition Committees Cabinet Cabinet list current Prime Minister list current Political parties Liberal Socialist Christian Democratic Elections 2011 provincial 2010 general 2009 European 2007 provincial 2006 general 2006 municipal 2005 referendum Decentralized gov't Provincial politics in the Netherlands Water boards Municipal politics in the Netherlands BES islands Foreign policy Politics of the European Union Foreign relations Missions to the Netherlands Missions of the Netherlands Related subjects High Councils of State National Ombudsman Council of State Court of Audit Social Economic Council Supreme Court Dutch Central Bank Contemporary history Politicians

Other countries · Atlas Politics portal view · talk · edit

The New Middle Party (in Dutch: Nieuwe Midden Partij, NMP) is a Dutch small business-interest political party. The NMP is a marginal party and was only successful during the 1971 elections.

History

The NMP was founded in 1970. It entered in the 1971 elections, and won two seats. Several months after the elections one of its MPs, De Jong, came into conflict with the party's chair, Te Pas, because he was involved in law suits over corruption. De Jong continued as independent MP. In the 1972 election the party won no seats.

The party continues to exist and unsuccessfully competed in the 2002 election.

Name

The party saw itself as the continuation of the pre-war Middle Class Party, as such it styled itself as "New Middleclass Party" or "New Middle Party".

Ideology & Issues

The NMP is a party for businesspeople and shopkeepers. It also appeals to forgotten groups like the elderly, unmarried and disabled. It wants to spread taxes and benefits more equally between social groups. It is fiscally conservative and seeks to reduce bureaucracy and government debt. Meanwhile it wants to protect the value of old age pensions and increase spending on healthcare. Furthermore it wants to end "car bullying", that is taxes on petrol, driven kilometers and car-purchases. It advocates limited migration into the EU and cutting spending on development cooperation.

Representation

This table show the NMP's results in elections to the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the party's political leadership: the fractievoorzitter, is the chair of the parliamentary party and the lijsttrekker is the party's top candidate in the general election, these posts are normally taken by the party's leader.

Year	HoR	S	Lijsttrekker	Fractievoorzitter
1971	2	0	Albert te Pas	Albert te Pas

Electorate

The NMP was supported in the 1971 elections by floating voters, especially those who supported a similar party, the Farmers' Party during the 1967 elections.

International Comparison

As a protest party of the middle class the NMP is comparable to the Norwegian or Danish progress parties, they were however far more successful.