DEMOCRATEN 1966

   A political party founded in 1966 by people not satisfied with the decision-making process in politics and in Parliament, among them Henricus Antonius Franciscus Maria Oliva (“Hans”) van Mierlo (1931– ). Initially the party advocated a radical renewal of democracy in politics. The main constitutional wishes of D66 are the introduction of the referendum and the election (rather than appointment by the government) of the burgomasters. Its program is now in between the liberal Volkspartij voorVrijheid en Democratie (VVD) and the Social Democratic Par tij van de Arbeid(PvdA).D66 has participated in six coalitions and co operated with the Christen Democratisch Appel (CDA), PvdA, and VVD in different combinations. In 2006, the party left the coalition with the CDA and VVD because of dissatisfaction with the way in which VVD minister Maria Cornelia Frederika (“Rita”) Verdonk had settled the question about the nationality of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The party had its greatest electoral success in 1994, gaining 24 out of 150 seats. In the 2006 elections, however, the party fell from six seats to just three. Prominent party members—besides van Mierlo, who was the party’s “face” most of the time—have included Johannes Petrus Adrianus (“Hans”) Gruyters (1931–2005), Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (1937– ), Prof. Jan Terlouw (1931– ), Dr. Else (“Els”) Borst-Eilers (1932– ), and Thomas Carolus (“Thom”) de Graaf (1957– ). Alexander Pechtold (1965– ) became the new party leader in 2006. In the European Par liament (EP), D66 is connected with the Alliance of Liberals and Dem ocrats for Europe (ALDE), with the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) as a subgroup.