Party for the Animals

The Party for the Animals (Dutch: Partij voor de Dieren [pɑrˈtɛi voːr də ˈdiːrə(n)], PvdD) is a political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. The PvdD was founded in 2002 as a single-issue party for animal rights, opposing animal cruelty and the treatment of animals in agriculture. The party then developed into a left-wing, ecological party.

Since 2019, the PvdD's political leader is Esther Ouwehand. With 2.25% of the votes at the 2023 general election, the PvdD holds three of the 150 House of Representatives's seats. In the Senate, it has three of the 75 seats. PvdD holds 26 States-Provincial seats across all provinces. In the European Parliament, it has one of the 31 seats allocated to the Netherlands constituency.

The First Balkenende cabinet was more hostile to animal welfare than the preceding Second Kok cabinet: it scrapped plans to ban mink farming, relaxed restrictions on hunting, and postponed regulations on factory farming. Cabinet party Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) pushed for these changes; Lieke Keller, director of the anti-fur farming organisation Bont voor Dieren [nl] (Bont for animals), interpreted these acts as trying to "get even" with activists following the assassination of Pim Fortuyn by environmental and animal rights activist Volkert van der Graaf. Despite their past support for animal welfare, GroenLinks and the Socialist Party did not vocally oppose the cabinet's animal policy. The cabinet was described as having rolled back 20 years of animal welfare progress. When a snap election was announced on 21 October 2002, Keller spoke with her colleague Marianne Thieme and suggested starting a party dedicated to animal rights. Thieme responded that she didn't believe in single-issue parties, but changed her mind on 24 October during a protest against seal hunting: "It's about an entire group of inhabitants being ignored, that's not a single issue". Thus, the Party for the Animals was founded and registered on 28 October 2002. The media did not pay attention to this, as it was focused on the LPF's internal struggles.

In the lead-up to the 2003 Dutch general election, the party faced the challenge of selecting a suitable lead candidate. While co-founder Lieke Keller was a natural candidate to lead, her existing role as director of Bont voor Dieren, and her extensive political contacts, made her unsuitable for front-line candidacy. To preserve ongoing lobbying efforts, Keller stepped back, and her colleague Marianne Thieme—a relatively unknown but committed figure—was selected as spokesperson. The party initially sought a celebrity to head the electoral list, but when this proved unfeasible, Thieme was put forward. Some founders saw the effort as a publicity stunt rather than a serious political bid. Niko Koffeman, who had previously overseen campaigns for the Socialist Party, nonetheless took an active role, shaping the party's program and advising on media outreach. As media attention grew, notably following an interview in Het Parool on 6 December 2002, Thieme's public profile grew. The campaign relied on securing free publicity.

The PvdD's campaign focused on a cluster of settlements in South Holland: Leiden, Warmond, Voorschoten, Oegstgeest, Jacobswoude and Hillegom. Despite modest resources, the party secured several hundred members and operated on a total budget of €30,000—two-thirds of which came from hotelier Irene Visser. This was spent primarily on posters and flyers. However, an administrative error led to a significant setback: The PvdD's candidate list for Overijssel was submitted 40 minutes past the legal deadline, and although the documents had been faxed earlier, the Electoral Council and the Council of State both upheld the disqualification. As a result, the party was barred from competing in the province. Thieme criticized the ruling as excessively rigid and suggested that the presence of established parties within the Council of State might discourage political newcomers.

When votes were counted, the PvdD came just short of winning a parliamentary seat. Initial projections by most major media outlets showed the party below the threshold, though a Radio 1 forecast briefly placed it at one seat. Ultimately, the party received 47,754 votes—just 518 votes below the threshold for parliamentary representation. This narrow margin raised questions about whether participation in Overijssel might have altered the result. Despite the disappointment, the party issued a statement expressing optimism, noting that such voter support was achieved with minimal resources, media exposure, and preparation. Party officials framed the outcome as evidence of latent public backing for a political movement grounded in animal liberation. While the PvdD missed entering parliament, it nonetheless outperformed Livable Netherlands (LN), which lost both its seats after securing just 38,856 votes.

Although initially considered a testimonial party, a party which does not seek to gain political power but to testify its beliefs and thereby influence other parties, the party signaled its willingness to enter a coalition government in 2021. The party today is a part of the governing coalitions in the municipalities of Almere, Arnhem and Groningen.

The electoral breakthrough for the PvdD occurred at the 2004 European elections. The party won 3.22% of the votes (153.432 votes), not enough to win a seat, but a sharp improvement compared to their 2003 result. In 2006 the party won their first seats in the Tweede Kamer, with Marianne Thieme and Esther Ouwehand being elected to parliament. The party gained a lot of attention due to a number of prominent lijstduwers, such as Paul Cliteur, Maarten 't Hart, Kees van Kooten, Rudy Kousbroek, Georgina Verbaan and Jan Wolkers.