Until the 2009 European Parliament election, it excluded the Dutch in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

In these elections two alliances formed successful common lists: The progressive liberal Democrats 66 (D66) lost its two seats and disappeared from the parliament.

While the Christian Democratic Appeal and the Labour Party lost a considerable number of votes, but remained stable in terms of seats.

With only 30 percent of the population showing up, the voter turnout hit an all-time low for Dutch elections on the national level.

The anti-fraud party Europe Transparent of whistle blower Paul van Buitenen unexpectedly won two seats.

The Labour Party and GroenLinks participated with the combined GroenLinks–PvdA list and received a plurality of 8 seats or 21% of the vote.

The Farmer–Citizen Movement, Volt Netherlands, and New Social Contract secured European Parliament seats for the first time, while the Christian Union, Forum for Democracy, and 50PLUS lost their representation.