THE HAGUE, 29/01/03 - A record number of women was elected to the Lower House in last week's parliamentary elections. They took 55 of the 150 seats in parliament, one more than in 1998.

In 1977, there were just 21 women in parliament. Numbers grew relatively quickly thereafter to average just over 50 in the past 8 years. The outgoing parliament however had slightly fewer women - 48.

Leftwing Green (GroenLinks) is the most emancipated party, with 5 women MPs out of 8, followed by labour (PvdA) with 20 out of 42. Christian democrats (CDA) have 14 out of 44, conservatives (VVD) 8 out of 28, the Socialist Party (SP) 4 out of 9, center-left (D66) 2 out of 6, Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) 1 out of 8 and ChristenUnie 1 out of 3.

The statistics could change if women MPs take ministerial or state secretary posts in the new government. The new Lower House will be sworn in tomorrow, while the government formation is likely to take another few weeks or months.