CDA members can cheer again, but not for what they hoped for

CDA members still know how to cheer on election night. After years of losing, there's reason to do so again on Wednesday evening: in the preliminary results, the Christian Democrats gained fourteen seats.

When Henri Bontenbal enters the hall around ten o'clock in the evening, his name is chanted. "What a fantastic result," he says. "We really couldn't have dreamed of this in the past two years." And that's the message echoing throughout Wednesday's election in Scheveningen, where five hundred CDA members have gathered. In the previous elections, in 2023, the CDA suffered significant losses, with the party holding just five seats. That number has now almost quadrupled. The CDA last won 19 seats in 2019, under the leadership of Sybrand Buma. After that, things went downhill.

It had been clear for some time that they would gain seats this time around; the CDA had been climbing in the polls for two years. And since the summer, Henri Bontenbal's party had held steady at around twenty-five seats. Disbelief over this success had already given way to self-confidence within the CDA; the party was a force to be reckoned with again, and the Christian Democratic narrative seemed to be gaining traction. Bontenbal even dared to mention becoming prime minister in interviews.

Misjudged

But in the final stages of the campaign, it became clear that some of the new CDA voters were shying away from the C. They had fallen for Bontenbal's narrative, about decency and normalcy, and about a new political culture. However, they opted for other parties after Bontenbal appeared on the television program Nieuwsuur , in which he argued that the right to religious education could conflict with the right to equal treatment. Bontenbal then had to explain exactly what he meant and that he should have chosen different words. On election day, CDA members in WhatsApp groups were still being urged to share pictures urging people to vote "Henri to the Tower," but within the CDA, they already knew that opportunity had been lost.

Besides the euphoria and relief, something else could also be heard at the event venue in Scheveningen on Wednesday evening: CDA members who were disappointed, because they knew the victory could have been even bigger.

For the party, eighteen seats would still be a very good result, but for me the margin is suddenly very important

Just before the first exit poll, there was still some uncertainty among the CDA members. "Whatever the outcome," said party chairman Jean Wiertz fifteen minutes before the provisional results were announced, "I think we can be proud of this campaign." At nine o'clock, when the CDA reached 19, fists went up, and members of parliament hugged each other.

Number 19 on the list, André Poortman, still wasn't entirely convinced later that evening. Things could easily change in the final count. "For the party, 18 seats would still be a very good result, but for me, the margin is suddenly very important." In any case, he says, he's guaranteed a seat in the parliamentary group meeting on Thursday morning.

That meeting will discuss the next steps. In his speech, Bontenbal congratulated D66 leader Rob Jetten on "a very fine achievement," as well as VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz and Ja21 leader Joost Eerdmans. It seems almost certain that the CDA will be needed for a majority coalition.

Bontenbal told the press what he's said repeatedly recently: that the CDA is prepared to take on governmental responsibility. However, he declined to answer questions about the conditions under which he's willing to cooperate with whom. "Now we want to celebrate first."

At the end of the evening, ties and jackets are removed from the audience. Yves Berendse, a folk singer whom Bontenbal apparently didn't know during an interview during the campaign, blares through the speakers.

“If I could go back in time, I would go back to you / I haven't seen you in so long, how are you now?”