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Elections in the Netherlands

Elections in the Netherlands are held for five territorial levels of government: the European Union, the state, the twelve Provinces, the 21 water boards and the 344 municipalities (and the three public bodies in the Caribbean Netherlands). Apart from elections, referendums were also held occasionally, but have been removed from the law in 2018. The most recent national election results and an overview of the resulting seat assignments and coalitions since World War II are shown at the bottom of this page.

At the national level, legislative power is invested in the States General (Staten-Generaal), which is bicameral. The House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) has 150 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation. Elections are also called after a dissolution of the House of Representatives. All elections are direct, except for the Senate (Eerste Kamer), which has 75 members, elected for a four-year term by provincial councillors on the basis of proportional representation at the provincial elections.

The Netherlands has a multi-party system, with numerous parties, in which usually no one party ever secures an overall majority of votes (except occasionally in very small municipalities, such as Tubbergen), so that several parties must cooperate to form a coalition government. This usually includes the party supported by a plurality of voters, with only three exceptions since World War II, in 1971, 1977 and 1982, when the Labour Party (PvdA) was the largest party but did not take part in the coalition.

Candidates to the elections of the House of Representatives are chosen from party lists according to a system of party-list proportional representation. The threshold is 1/150th of the total number of valid votes.

During the municipal elections of 2006, elections were electronic throughout the country. As a result, results were known before the end of the day, a mere two hours after the closing of the poll stations. For the national elections in November of that same year, however, several polling stations decided to return to paper and red pencil because of security issues with the voting machines. Since then, most elections have been held using paper and pencil.

The most recent elections were the municipal elections on 14–16 March 2022.

Timing

The maximum parliamentary term is five years[1] and elections are generally held about four years after the previous one. Regular elections, i.e. after the House of Representatives has fulfilled its term, take place in March. If municipal or provincial elections are already taking place in March of that year, the parliamentary election is postponed to May. Elections are planned for spring to ensure that a new cabinet is formed in time to present its plans on the most important day in the Dutch Parliament, Prinsjesdag.[2] If the House of Representatives is dissolved, due to a severe conflict between the House of Representatives and cabinet, or within the cabinet, a snap election takes place as soon as possible, usually after two months to give parties time to prepare. The term of the next House can be shortened or prolonged by almost a year to ensure the next normal election again takes place in March or May.

Municipal and provincial elections always take place every four years, in March; municipal elections always two years after a year divisible by four, and provincial elections one year after municipal elections. Municipal councils and States-Provincial cannot be dissolved, so no snap elections can occur. An exception to the four-year term is made when two or more municipalities merge and a new election takes place for the merged municipality.

Senate elections also take place every four years, in May following the provincial elections. The Senate can be dissolved, and subsequently snap elections take place, but since the States-Provincial remain the same, this seldom occurs. A Senate elected in a snap election sits out the remainder of its predecessor's term.

Elections usually take place on Wednesdays, but the government can decide to change this to a Tuesday, Thursday or Friday if there are good reasons to do so (e.g. when the election day coincides with a national holiday).[citation needed] Elections for the European Parliament always take place on a Thursday.[3]

Eligibility

Every Dutch citizen who has reached the age of 18 is eligible to vote (actief kiesrecht, or "active suffrage") or to stand for election as a member of the House of Representatives (passief kiesrecht, or "passive suffrage"). A notable exception is municipal elections, in which persons younger than 18 can be elected, although they may not take their seat until their 18th birthday. Also, for the municipal election one does not have to be Dutch; residents who are citizens of another EU country are also eligible to vote, as well as citizens of other countries who have lived (legally) in the Netherlands for five years. Someone may be deprived of these rights if they are mentally incapable of making a reasoned choice or have lost their right to vote by court sentence. Two weeks before an election all voters receive a card, which is the evidence that they are entitled to vote, and this card must be handed over at the polling-station before voting. Voting is not compulsory. Compulsory voting was introduced along with universal suffrage in 1917, but it was abolished in 1967.

It is not necessary or even possible specifically to register as a voter for elections in the Netherlands: every resident inhabitant of the Netherlands is required to register as such with the municipality in which they are living, and this data (which includes their nationality and date of birth) is the basis from which the electoral register is derived.

Dutch citizens who live abroad (and have deregistered themselves as a Dutch resident) are allowed to vote for the House of Representatives and for the European Parliament, but not for municipal or provincial elections. They do need to register themselves as a voter.

System

The House of Representatives is elected using an open party list system of proportional representation.

Election

 
Voting using "paper and red pencil": the voter colours in the box preceding the name of his or her favoured candidate
 
Voting at Dutch elections in 1918
 
Vote counting at Dutch elections in 1913

For all elections polling is organised on the basis of municipalities. In each municipality there are multiple voting stations, usually in communal buildings, such as churches, schools, and more recently, railway stations. There are two different systems: using the call-to-vote card (oproepkaart) or a voting pass (stempas). With the oproepkaart, voters may vote, using this card, only at their nearest voting station, or if lost, their identity card. With a stempas, users may vote at any station in their municipality, but must have the pass with them. If it is lost, a replacement can be requested, but only until a few days before the elections. A stempas (of different type) can also be requested to vote in a different municipality.

When arriving at a voting station, voters hand in their card or pass to one of the three attendants of the voting station, who checks the card, cancels it, issues ballot papers to the voter, and directs him or her to the polling-booth.

Dutch citizens living abroad are able to vote by registering in advance and then using a postal vote. The results are counted by the municipality of The Hague and included in its own results. In 2006, they could vote over the internet via the Rijnland Internet Election System, but in 2008 security concerns led to a law against Internet voting.[4]

Voting is done in one of two ways: manually marking a ballot paper with a red pencil or electronically, using a voting machine. In 2005, almost all municipalities planned to abandon pencil-and-paper voting. However, serious doubts were raised over the inviolability of the computers used from potential vote tampering and electronic eavesdropping.[5][6] This led to a run on foreign voting machines and reintroduction of the red pencil in some municipalities in 2006, occasionally using converted medical waste disposal containers as voting boxes.

For mayoral and gubernatorial positions, the Netherlands is one of the few countries in Europe where no elections are held. Instead, they are appointed by the Crown. [7][8]

Post-election

Polls close at 21:00 and the votes are counted immediately. For national elections, the first results usually come within the first five minutes after the polls are closed (from the municipalities with the fewest inhabitants, Schiermonnikoog and Renswoude). The final results are generally known around midnight and semi-officially announced the next morning, after which the 150 seats are allocated. However, recounting over the course of the following days sometimes throws up minor shifts in the allocation of seats.

Seat assignment

The electorate in the Netherlands during the last general elections on the 17th of March 2021 was 13,293,186, of whom 78,7% voted, resulting in 10,462,677 votes (of which 10,422,852 valid votes). With 150 seats, that means a quota of 69,485 votes per seat, the so-called Hare quota. Since the election threshold is equal to the quota, that is also the number of votes required to get one seat in the House of Representatives.

However, the way residual seats are assigned, by using the D'Hondt method, a highest averages method, means that smaller parties are unlikely to get a residual seat, while larger parties have a bigger chance of getting one and may even get more than one. Firstly, numbers of seats are always rounded down, meaning there are always residual seats and parties that did not reach the quota do not get any seats (they do not take part in the following calculation). Next, the number of votes is divided by the assigned seats plus one. The party with the highest resulting number then gets one extra seat. Next, the process is repeated, with the party that got the extra seat participating again, albeit with a number one higher because they got an extra seat (the calculation stays the same for the other parties, which got no extra seat). But later on in the process, that party may get another extra seat. And since there are many parties in the House of Representatives, this is not unlikely to happen.

For example, in 2003 (see table here), the three biggest parties each got two of the six residual seats, even the VVD (150*0.179=26.85, but they got 28 seats, representing 18.7% of the seats instead of 17.9%), whereas the Socialist Party got none (150*0.063 = 9.45, but they got only 9 seats, representing 6% of the seats instead of 6.3%).

When the largest party gets over 35% of the votes and is considerably bigger than the next biggest party, that party may even get as much as 3 or even 4 residual seats. This has, however, never happened. The percentage of votes for the biggest party is usually around 30% and rarely goes far beyond that. The largest result ever was at the 1989 elections, when the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) got 35.3% of the votes. Even then, however, CDA only got two residual seats because next biggest party, the Labour Party (PvdA) had 31.9% of the votes. The biggest difference between the first and second party was at the 2002 elections, the most dramatic elections in Dutch history, when especially the PvdA lost many votes to the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF), which became second biggest after CDA with 17.0% of the votes. CDA, however, had received only 27.9% of the votes and was therefore still only assigned two residual seats.

Historically, parties had the option of forming an electoral alliance (lijstverbinding), in which case they would participate in the above calculations as one party and therefore increase their chance of being assigned residual seats. The allocation of those seats among the parties within a lijstverbinding was, however, done using the largest remainder method, which is more favourable toward smaller parties rather than the bigger ones if there is a considerable difference in size. But the overall advantage was greatest for small parties of comparable size. The option of forming a lijstverbinding was abolished in 2017.[9]

Assigning people to seats

After seats are allocated to the parties, candidates have to be assigned to the seats. For the purpose of general elections, the Netherlands is divided into twenty electoral districts. Parties can present different lists in each district. In theory, a party can place different candidates on each of the 20 different lists. However, it is usual that at least the candidate ranked first on the list is the same person throughout the country. It is even quite common that parties use the same list in every district, or vary only the last five candidates per district. Usually these five candidates are locally well known politicians, parties hope to attract extra votes with these candidates. However, because of their low position on the list, chances are low that these local candidates are elected.

The first step in the process of assigning people to the seats is calculating how many seats each of the different lists of a party gets, by adding the number of votes on each of the different lists together. If a party used the same list in more than one electoral district, these lists are seen as one list. Seat assignment to the different lists is done by using the largest remainder method.

The second step is calculating which candidate received on his or her own more votes than 25% of the electoral quota, by adding up all votes for a particular candidate on the different lists. These candidates are declared elected independent of the list order, and get one of the seats of the list where they received the most votes. If more candidates are elected on a list than the list received seats, the candidate with the lowest total number of votes is transferred to the list where he had his second best result.

As a third step, the remaining seats (if there are any) are assigned to the remaining candidates, based on their order on the list. When candidates are elected on more than one list in this way, the candidate gets the seat on the list where he or she received the most votes. This is continued until every seat is assigned. If one of these elected candidates later decides to leave parliament, then his seat is assigned to the next person on the list of the district he 'represents'.

An exception to the above exists in the form of lijstduwer ("list pushers"), famous people (former politicians, but also sports people) who are put on the candidate list but will not accept a seat when they get enough votes for one. During the municipal elections in 2006 professor Joop van Holsteyn criticised this practise, saying someone on a candidate list should also be a serious candidate. This view is shared by other political scientists, but less so by politicians, who say that lijstduwers are on the list not to get elected but to show that they support that party and that the fact that they are at the bottom of the list makes it obvious they are not intended to get a seat. Still, writer Ronald Giphart (1998) and skater Hilbert van der Duim (1994) got a municipal council seat, which Giphart refused to fill. Professor Rudy Andeweg says this is close to fraud because the law requires someone on the candidate list to declare in writing to be willing to fill a seat.

An example from the municipality of Oude IJsselstreek. The city council elections of 2010 resulted a total of 17,852 valid votes. The CDA party achieved 4,440 votes. Of the thirty CDA candidates on the list, 22 were given at least one vote each:[10]

  1. van de Wardt, P. 2061
  2. Aalbers-van Ham, A.A.F.J. 224
  3. Steentjes, B.W.J. 451
  4. Bergevoet, R.J.W.M. 245
  5. Tekinerdoğan, M. 417
  6. Ermers-Mulder, A.G.M. 66
  7. Hettinga, M.A.J. 99
  8. Toussaint, C.P. 29
  9. van Bergen, J.H. 37
  10. Berentschot, H.J. 77
  11. Hendriksen-Löverink, S.A.M. 150
  12. Büchner, A.C.A. 31
  13. Sorgedrager-Carreira da Cunha Sant'Anna Sorgedrager, M.P. 22
  14. Hakvoort, G.W.M. 219
  15. Lammers-te Lindert, E.H.A. 19
  16. Vesters, J.M.G.M. 28
  17. Rootmensen-Bulsink, J.W. 45
  18. Ross, A.G.M. 59
  19. Koskamp, A.H. 35
  20. Roelofs, W.T.H.M. 91
  21. Ernst, F.F.J. 15
  22. Löverink, B.A.S. 20

(The last number is the number of personal votes.)

As the total number of votes in the municipality is 17,852 and the council has 27 seats, 661 votes count for one seat. As the CDA has 4,440 votes it is entitled to seven seats.

First, it has to be checked who of the CDA candidates has more than a quarter of the kiesdeler. (661 divided by four makes 165 votes.) This is true for the candidates number 1, 3, 5, 4, 2 and 14 (in this order). Those six are elected.

Second, the rest of the CDA seats (one) is given to the person first on the list. As candidates number 1-5 already have seats, this last seat goes to number 6.

Referendums

From the entry into force of the Advisory Referendum Act (Wet raadgevend referendum) on 1 July 2015, until its repeal on 18 February 2018, most laws could be subjected to a consultative referendum after their approval, following a request by 300,000 people.

Before that date in principle, there was no permanent provision in law for a referendum. However, from 2002 until 2005, there was a Temporary Referendum Law in place, which allowed for non-binding referendums, known in Dutch as Volksraadpleging ("People's Consultation"), to be organised for laws already approved by the House of Representatives. No referendum was called based on this law.

In order to hold the 2005 referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, a different law was temporarily put in place. That referendum was the first national referendum in the Netherlands since the 1805 referendum in Batavian Republic and it was the result of an initiative proposal by parliamentarians Farah Karimi (GroenLinks), Niesco Dubbelboer (Labour Party) and Boris van der Ham (Democrats 66).

Other elections

Water boards

Elections for the water boards have some similarities to other elections mentioned above, but also some distinctive differences. Similar to municipal elections, there are national parties and local parties, and the party list system is used with proportional representation. Residents of 18 and over can vote and elections take place every four years.

In contrast to other elections, not all members of the water board are chosen by the residents of the water board area. The members of each water board are divided into four categories: inhabitants, agriculture, nature and commercial. Only board members in the inhabitants category are chosen in direct elections, the members in the other categories are appointed by representing organisations, e.g. chambers of commerce in the commercial category. Since 2015, residents vote in person, just like in other elections, and they take place every four years, on the same day as the provincial elections. Before 2015, votes were cast by post, over a period of about two weeks.

Island councils

The elections for the Island councils for the special municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba take place at the same date as the provincial elections;[11] for the first time in 2015.

Latest elections

2022 municipal elections

2021 general election

2019 Senate election

The Senate is elected indirectly, by the provincial councillors (who are themselves chosen in direct elections) and (in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) the electoral colleges for the Senate. It is composed as follows:

2019 European Parliament election

2019 provincial elections

In the 2019 provincial elections, the following parties won a majority in at least one province: Christian Democratic Appeal (four), Forum for Democracy (three), People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (two), GroenLinks (two) and Labour Party (one).

Next elections

The next elections in the Netherlands are planned for (in chronological order):

Election results and cabinets since World War II

The following tables show general election results and cabinets in the Netherlands since World War II. Per table, only parties that ever got seats over that period are listed (the number of participating parties in general elections is usually around 20).

The numbers give the number of seats for each party. After 1956 the total number of seats in parliament is 150, so a coalition needs at least 76 seats for a majority.

In each table, the parties are split in two or three groups; parties that have been in government, minor parties and extinct parties (if any in that table).
Within each group, the parties are grouped roughly according to the scheme left-wing – Christian – right-wing.

       columns
Election Election years (linking to the relevant articles)
sc 'seat change'; the number of seats that changed between parties. Numbers between brackets assume merging parties to be the same as the new party
Cabinet The resulting cabinets (not necessarily in the same year)
Term The duration of the term of that cabinet, in months, measured between inaugurations, so including the demissionary period after the next elections.
% percentage of seats held by the government parties. (Note that the other numbers are not percentages but seats (for a total of 150, and 100 before 1956).)
       cells
bold party in cabinet (government)
 - not enough votes to get a seat in parliament
         
party didn't exist then or did not participate nationally
         
no elections

       Party name abbreviations (unofficial, to fit the table)
GrL = GroenLinks (a merger of PPR, PSP, CPN and EVP)
CU = ChristenUnie (a merger of RPF and GVP)


In 2016, BIJ1 split off from DENK.
In 2021, JA21 split off from FvD.

Election sc Cabinet Term
(months)
% PvdA D66 CU CDA VVD SP PvdD Volt BIJ1 DENK GrL 50PLUS SGP BBB JA21 FvD PVV
2021 21 Rutte IV ? 52 9 24 5 15 34 9 6 3 1 3 8 1 3 1 3 8 17
2017 38 Rutte III 49 51 9 19 5 19 33 14 5 3 14 4 3 - 2 20
2012 23 Rutte II 60 53 38 12 5 13 41 15 2 4 2 3 15
2010 34 Rutte I(3) 25 35 30 10 5 21 31 15 2 10 2 24
Election sc Cabinet Term
(months)
% PvdA D66 CU CDA VVD SP PvdD GrL SGP PVV CPN PSP PPR EVP DS70 RPF GPV BP LN AOV U55 CP CD LPF
2006 30 Balkenende IV 44 53 33 3 6 41 22 25 2 7 2 9 -
- Balkenende III(1) 7 48 42 6 3 44 28 9 8 2 8
2003 24 Balkenende II 38 52 42 6 3 44 28 9 8 2 8
2002 (36) Balkenende I 10 62 23 7 4 43 24 9 10 2 << CU 2 26
1998 25 Kok II 47 65 45 14 29 38 5 11 3 3 2
1994 34 Kok I 48 61 37 24 34 31 2 5 2 3 2 6 1 3
1989 (8) Lubbers III 57 69 49 12 54 22 - 6 3 << GrL 1 2 1
1986 17 Lubbers II 40 54 52 9 54 27 - 3 - 1 2 - 1 1 - -
1982 15 Lubbers I 44 54 47 6 45 36 - 3 3 3 2 1 - 2 1 1
- van Agt III(1) 5 43 44 17 48 26 - 3 3 3 3 - 2 1
1981 14 van Agt II 8 73 44 17 48 26 - 3 3 3 3 - 2 1
1977 (19) Van Agt I 45 51 53 8 49 28 - 3 2 1 3 1 - 1 1

In 1977, KVP, ARP and CHU merged into CDA.

DS'70 split off from PvdA
KNP is former Lijst Welter, which split off from KVP in 1948, but returned to that party in 1955
PvdV is the forerunner of VVD

Election sc Cabinet Term
(months)
% PvdA DS70 D66 PPR KVP ARP CHU VVD CPN PSP SGP GPV RKPN BP NMP KNP PvdV
1972 20 Den Uyl(2) 55 65 43 6 6 7 27 14 7 22 7 2 3 2 1 3 -
- Biesheuvel II(1) 9 49 39 8 11 2 35 13 10 16 6 2 3 2 1 2
1971 19 Biesheuvel I 13 55 39 8 11 2 35 13 10 16 6 2 3 2 1 2
1967 15 De Jong 51 57 37 7 42 15 12 17 5 4 3 1 7
- Zijlstra(1) 4 42 43 50 13 13 16 4 4 3 1 3
- Cals 19 71 43 50 13 13 16 4 4 3 1 3
1963 9 Marijnen 21 61 43 50 13 13 16 4 4 3 1 3
1959 8 De Quay 50 50 48 49 14 12 19 3 2 3 - -
- Beel II(1) 5 51 50 49 15 13 13 7 3 -
expansion from 100 to 150 seats 85 50 49 15 13 13 7 3 -
1956 7 Drees IV 26 85 34 33 10 8 9 4 2 -
1952 6 Drees III 49 81 30 30 12 9 9 6 2 - 2
- Drees II 18 76 27 32 13 9 8 8 2 - 1
1948 (4) Drees I 31 76 27 32 13 9 8 8 2 - 1
1946 ? Beel I 25 61 29 32 13 8 10 2 6
? Schermerhorn-Drees(2) 13 (no election - appointed by queen)
1940–1945: War cabinets without elections

(1) minority caretaker cabinet
(2) extra-parliamentary cabinet
(3) minority cabinet

See also

References

  1. ^ Article 64.4 of the Dutch constitution
  2. ^ Tweede Kamer. "Kamerstuk Tweede Kamer 1984–1985 kamerstuknummer 18807 ondernummer 2" (in Dutch). Staten-Generaal Digitaal. p. 12. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  3. ^ "Elections". European Parliament. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  4. ^ Jacobs, B.; Pieters, W. (2009). "Electronic Voting in the Netherlands: From Early Adoption to Early Abolishment". Foundations of Security Analysis and Design V. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 5705. p. 121. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.159.9956. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-03829-7_4. ISBN 978-3-642-03828-0.
  5. ^ . Archived from the original on 16 December 2008.
  6. ^ "EenVandaag :: het nieuws- en actualiteiten programma van AVROTROS op NPO 1".
  7. ^ . Rijksoverheid.nl. Netherlands Giovernment. 12 October 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Benoeming en herbenoeming commissaris van de Koning (in Dutch)". Rijksoverheid.nl. Rijksoverheid. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  9. ^ "Per 1 december geen lijstverbindingen meer". Parlement & Politiek (in Dutch). 9 November 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  10. ^ . Archived from the original on 7 March 2010.
  11. ^ (in Dutch) Kiesraad about eilandsraden 24 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ [1] (in Dutch), Electoral Council. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  13. ^ [2] (in Dutch), Electoral Council. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  14. ^ [3] (in Dutch), Electoral Council. Retrieved 29 March 2022.

External links

  • Adam Carr's Election Archive
  • election results, national results since 1850 and results of provincial elections 2nd half 20th century
  • Dutch election results, national results since 1918, by province.
  • Interview/NSS Weekly Electoral Poll
  • Peil.nl Weekly Electoral Poll
  • NSD: European Election Database – Netherlands publishes regional level election data (NUTS 1–3); allows for comparisons of election results, 1994–2010

elections, netherlands, held, five, territorial, levels, government, european, union, state, twelve, provinces, water, boards, municipalities, three, public, bodies, caribbean, netherlands, apart, from, elections, referendums, were, also, held, occasionally, h. Elections in the Netherlands are held for five territorial levels of government the European Union the state the twelve Provinces the 21 water boards and the 344 municipalities and the three public bodies in the Caribbean Netherlands Apart from elections referendums were also held occasionally but have been removed from the law in 2018 The most recent national election results and an overview of the resulting seat assignments and coalitions since World War II are shown at the bottom of this page At the national level legislative power is invested in the States General Staten Generaal which is bicameral The House of Representatives Tweede Kamer has 150 members elected for a four year term by proportional representation Elections are also called after a dissolution of the House of Representatives All elections are direct except for the Senate Eerste Kamer which has 75 members elected for a four year term by provincial councillors on the basis of proportional representation at the provincial elections The Netherlands has a multi party system with numerous parties in which usually no one party ever secures an overall majority of votes except occasionally in very small municipalities such as Tubbergen so that several parties must cooperate to form a coalition government This usually includes the party supported by a plurality of voters with only three exceptions since World War II in 1971 1977 and 1982 when the Labour Party PvdA was the largest party but did not take part in the coalition Candidates to the elections of the House of Representatives are chosen from party lists according to a system of party list proportional representation The threshold is 1 150th of the total number of valid votes During the municipal elections of 2006 elections were electronic throughout the country As a result results were known before the end of the day a mere two hours after the closing of the poll stations For the national elections in November of that same year however several polling stations decided to return to paper and red pencil because of security issues with the voting machines Since then most elections have been held using paper and pencil The most recent elections were the municipal elections on 14 16 March 2022 Contents 1 Timing 2 Eligibility 3 System 4 Election 5 Post election 5 1 Seat assignment 5 2 Assigning people to seats 6 Referendums 7 Other elections 7 1 Water boards 7 2 Island councils 8 Latest elections 8 1 2022 municipal elections 8 2 2021 general election 8 3 2019 Senate election 8 4 2019 European Parliament election 8 5 2019 provincial elections 9 Next elections 10 Election results and cabinets since World War II 11 See also 12 References 13 External linksTiming EditThe maximum parliamentary term is five years 1 and elections are generally held about four years after the previous one Regular elections i e after the House of Representatives has fulfilled its term take place in March If municipal or provincial elections are already taking place in March of that year the parliamentary election is postponed to May Elections are planned for spring to ensure that a new cabinet is formed in time to present its plans on the most important day in the Dutch Parliament Prinsjesdag 2 If the House of Representatives is dissolved due to a severe conflict between the House of Representatives and cabinet or within the cabinet a snap election takes place as soon as possible usually after two months to give parties time to prepare The term of the next House can be shortened or prolonged by almost a year to ensure the next normal election again takes place in March or May Municipal and provincial elections always take place every four years in March municipal elections always two years after a year divisible by four and provincial elections one year after municipal elections Municipal councils and States Provincial cannot be dissolved so no snap elections can occur An exception to the four year term is made when two or more municipalities merge and a new election takes place for the merged municipality Senate elections also take place every four years in May following the provincial elections The Senate can be dissolved and subsequently snap elections take place but since the States Provincial remain the same this seldom occurs A Senate elected in a snap election sits out the remainder of its predecessor s term Elections usually take place on Wednesdays but the government can decide to change this to a Tuesday Thursday or Friday if there are good reasons to do so e g when the election day coincides with a national holiday citation needed Elections for the European Parliament always take place on a Thursday 3 Eligibility EditEvery Dutch citizen who has reached the age of 18 is eligible to vote actief kiesrecht or active suffrage or to stand for election as a member of the House of Representatives passief kiesrecht or passive suffrage A notable exception is municipal elections in which persons younger than 18 can be elected although they may not take their seat until their 18th birthday Also for the municipal election one does not have to be Dutch residents who are citizens of another EU country are also eligible to vote as well as citizens of other countries who have lived legally in the Netherlands for five years Someone may be deprived of these rights if they are mentally incapable of making a reasoned choice or have lost their right to vote by court sentence Two weeks before an election all voters receive a card which is the evidence that they are entitled to vote and this card must be handed over at the polling station before voting Voting is not compulsory Compulsory voting was introduced along with universal suffrage in 1917 but it was abolished in 1967 It is not necessary or even possible specifically to register as a voter for elections in the Netherlands every resident inhabitant of the Netherlands is required to register as such with the municipality in which they are living and this data which includes their nationality and date of birth is the basis from which the electoral register is derived Dutch citizens who live abroad and have deregistered themselves as a Dutch resident are allowed to vote for the House of Representatives and for the European Parliament but not for municipal or provincial elections They do need to register themselves as a voter System EditThe House of Representatives is elected using an open party list system of proportional representation Election Edit Voting using paper and red pencil the voter colours in the box preceding the name of his or her favoured candidate Voting at Dutch elections in 1918 Vote counting at Dutch elections in 1913 For all elections polling is organised on the basis of municipalities In each municipality there are multiple voting stations usually in communal buildings such as churches schools and more recently railway stations There are two different systems using the call to vote card oproepkaart or a voting pass stempas With the oproepkaart voters may vote using this card only at their nearest voting station or if lost their identity card With a stempas users may vote at any station in their municipality but must have the pass with them If it is lost a replacement can be requested but only until a few days before the elections A stempas of different type can also be requested to vote in a different municipality When arriving at a voting station voters hand in their card or pass to one of the three attendants of the voting station who checks the card cancels it issues ballot papers to the voter and directs him or her to the polling booth Dutch citizens living abroad are able to vote by registering in advance and then using a postal vote The results are counted by the municipality of The Hague and included in its own results In 2006 they could vote over the internet via the Rijnland Internet Election System but in 2008 security concerns led to a law against Internet voting 4 Voting is done in one of two ways manually marking a ballot paper with a red pencil or electronically using a voting machine In 2005 almost all municipalities planned to abandon pencil and paper voting However serious doubts were raised over the inviolability of the computers used from potential vote tampering and electronic eavesdropping 5 6 This led to a run on foreign voting machines and reintroduction of the red pencil in some municipalities in 2006 occasionally using converted medical waste disposal containers as voting boxes For mayoral and gubernatorial positions the Netherlands is one of the few countries in Europe where no elections are held Instead they are appointed by the Crown 7 8 Post election EditPolls close at 21 00 and the votes are counted immediately For national elections the first results usually come within the first five minutes after the polls are closed from the municipalities with the fewest inhabitants Schiermonnikoog and Renswoude The final results are generally known around midnight and semi officially announced the next morning after which the 150 seats are allocated However recounting over the course of the following days sometimes throws up minor shifts in the allocation of seats Seat assignment Edit The electorate in the Netherlands during the last general elections on the 17th of March 2021 was 13 293 186 of whom 78 7 voted resulting in 10 462 677 votes of which 10 422 852 valid votes With 150 seats that means a quota of 69 485 votes per seat the so called Hare quota Since the election threshold is equal to the quota that is also the number of votes required to get one seat in the House of Representatives However the way residual seats are assigned by using the D Hondt method a highest averages method means that smaller parties are unlikely to get a residual seat while larger parties have a bigger chance of getting one and may even get more than one Firstly numbers of seats are always rounded down meaning there are always residual seats and parties that did not reach the quota do not get any seats they do not take part in the following calculation Next the number of votes is divided by the assigned seats plus one The party with the highest resulting number then gets one extra seat Next the process is repeated with the party that got the extra seat participating again albeit with a number one higher because they got an extra seat the calculation stays the same for the other parties which got no extra seat But later on in the process that party may get another extra seat And since there are many parties in the House of Representatives this is not unlikely to happen For example in 2003 see table here the three biggest parties each got two of the six residual seats even the VVD 150 0 179 26 85 but they got 28 seats representing 18 7 of the seats instead of 17 9 whereas the Socialist Party got none 150 0 063 9 45 but they got only 9 seats representing 6 of the seats instead of 6 3 When the largest party gets over 35 of the votes and is considerably bigger than the next biggest party that party may even get as much as 3 or even 4 residual seats This has however never happened The percentage of votes for the biggest party is usually around 30 and rarely goes far beyond that The largest result ever was at the 1989 elections when the Christian Democratic Appeal CDA got 35 3 of the votes Even then however CDA only got two residual seats because next biggest party the Labour Party PvdA had 31 9 of the votes The biggest difference between the first and second party was at the 2002 elections the most dramatic elections in Dutch history when especially the PvdA lost many votes to the Pim Fortuyn List LPF which became second biggest after CDA with 17 0 of the votes CDA however had received only 27 9 of the votes and was therefore still only assigned two residual seats Historically parties had the option of forming an electoral alliance lijstverbinding in which case they would participate in the above calculations as one party and therefore increase their chance of being assigned residual seats The allocation of those seats among the parties within a lijstverbinding was however done using the largest remainder method which is more favourable toward smaller parties rather than the bigger ones if there is a considerable difference in size But the overall advantage was greatest for small parties of comparable size The option of forming a lijstverbinding was abolished in 2017 9 Assigning people to seats Edit After seats are allocated to the parties candidates have to be assigned to the seats For the purpose of general elections the Netherlands is divided into twenty electoral districts Parties can present different lists in each district In theory a party can place different candidates on each of the 20 different lists However it is usual that at least the candidate ranked first on the list is the same person throughout the country It is even quite common that parties use the same list in every district or vary only the last five candidates per district Usually these five candidates are locally well known politicians parties hope to attract extra votes with these candidates However because of their low position on the list chances are low that these local candidates are elected The first step in the process of assigning people to the seats is calculating how many seats each of the different lists of a party gets by adding the number of votes on each of the different lists together If a party used the same list in more than one electoral district these lists are seen as one list Seat assignment to the different lists is done by using the largest remainder method The second step is calculating which candidate received on his or her own more votes than 25 of the electoral quota by adding up all votes for a particular candidate on the different lists These candidates are declared elected independent of the list order and get one of the seats of the list where they received the most votes If more candidates are elected on a list than the list received seats the candidate with the lowest total number of votes is transferred to the list where he had his second best result As a third step the remaining seats if there are any are assigned to the remaining candidates based on their order on the list When candidates are elected on more than one list in this way the candidate gets the seat on the list where he or she received the most votes This is continued until every seat is assigned If one of these elected candidates later decides to leave parliament then his seat is assigned to the next person on the list of the district he represents An exception to the above exists in the form of lijstduwer list pushers famous people former politicians but also sports people who are put on the candidate list but will not accept a seat when they get enough votes for one During the municipal elections in 2006 professor Joop van Holsteyn criticised this practise saying someone on a candidate list should also be a serious candidate This view is shared by other political scientists but less so by politicians who say that lijstduwers are on the list not to get elected but to show that they support that party and that the fact that they are at the bottom of the list makes it obvious they are not intended to get a seat Still writer Ronald Giphart 1998 and skater Hilbert van der Duim 1994 got a municipal council seat which Giphart refused to fill Professor Rudy Andeweg says this is close to fraud because the law requires someone on the candidate list to declare in writing to be willing to fill a seat An example from the municipality of Oude IJsselstreek The city council elections of 2010 resulted a total of 17 852 valid votes The CDA party achieved 4 440 votes Of the thirty CDA candidates on the list 22 were given at least one vote each 10 van de Wardt P 2061 Aalbers van Ham A A F J 224 Steentjes B W J 451 Bergevoet R J W M 245 Tekinerdogan M 417 Ermers Mulder A G M 66 Hettinga M A J 99 Toussaint C P 29 van Bergen J H 37 Berentschot H J 77 Hendriksen Loverink S A M 150 Buchner A C A 31 Sorgedrager Carreira da Cunha Sant Anna Sorgedrager M P 22 Hakvoort G W M 219 Lammers te Lindert E H A 19 Vesters J M G M 28 Rootmensen Bulsink J W 45 Ross A G M 59 Koskamp A H 35 Roelofs W T H M 91 Ernst F F J 15 Loverink B A S 20 The last number is the number of personal votes As the total number of votes in the municipality is 17 852 and the council has 27 seats 661 votes count for one seat As the CDA has 4 440 votes it is entitled to seven seats First it has to be checked who of the CDA candidates has more than a quarter of the kiesdeler 661 divided by four makes 165 votes This is true for the candidates number 1 3 5 4 2 and 14 in this order Those six are elected Second the rest of the CDA seats one is given to the person first on the list As candidates number 1 5 already have seats this last seat goes to number 6 Referendums EditFurther information Referendums in the Netherlands From the entry into force of the Advisory Referendum Act Wet raadgevend referendum on 1 July 2015 until its repeal on 18 February 2018 most laws could be subjected to a consultative referendum after their approval following a request by 300 000 people Before that date in principle there was no permanent provision in law for a referendum However from 2002 until 2005 there was a Temporary Referendum Law in place which allowed for non binding referendums known in Dutch as Volksraadpleging People s Consultation to be organised for laws already approved by the House of Representatives No referendum was called based on this law In order to hold the 2005 referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe a different law was temporarily put in place That referendum was the first national referendum in the Netherlands since the 1805 referendum in Batavian Republic and it was the result of an initiative proposal by parliamentarians Farah Karimi GroenLinks Niesco Dubbelboer Labour Party and Boris van der Ham Democrats 66 Other elections EditWater boards Edit Elections for the water boards have some similarities to other elections mentioned above but also some distinctive differences Similar to municipal elections there are national parties and local parties and the party list system is used with proportional representation Residents of 18 and over can vote and elections take place every four years In contrast to other elections not all members of the water board are chosen by the residents of the water board area The members of each water board are divided into four categories inhabitants agriculture nature and commercial Only board members in the inhabitants category are chosen in direct elections the members in the other categories are appointed by representing organisations e g chambers of commerce in the commercial category Since 2015 residents vote in person just like in other elections and they take place every four years on the same day as the provincial elections Before 2015 votes were cast by post over a period of about two weeks Island councils Edit The elections for the Island councils for the special municipalities of Bonaire Sint Eustatius and Saba take place at the same date as the provincial elections 11 for the first time in 2015 Latest elections Edit2022 municipal elections Edit Main article 2022 Dutch municipal elections 2021 general election Edit Main article 2021 Dutch general election 2019 Senate election Edit Main article 2019 Dutch Senate election The Senate is elected indirectly by the provincial councillors who are themselves chosen in direct elections and in Bonaire Sint Eustatius and Saba the electoral colleges for the Senate It is composed as follows 2019 European Parliament election Edit Main article 2019 European Parliament election in the Netherlands 2019 provincial elections Edit Main article 2019 Dutch provincial elections In the 2019 provincial elections the following parties won a majority in at least one province Christian Democratic Appeal four Forum for Democracy three People s Party for Freedom and Democracy two GroenLinks two and Labour Party one Next elections EditThe next elections in the Netherlands are planned for in chronological order 2023 Dutch provincial elections 15 March 2023 12 2023 Dutch water board elections 15 March 2023 13 2023 Dutch island council elections 15 March 2023 14 House of Representatives on or before 13 March 2025Election results and cabinets since World War II EditThe following tables show general election results and cabinets in the Netherlands since World War II Per table only parties that ever got seats over that period are listed the number of participating parties in general elections is usually around 20 The numbers give the number of seats for each party After 1956 the total number of seats in parliament is 150 so a coalition needs at least 76 seats for a majority In each table the parties are split in two or three groups parties that have been in government minor parties and extinct parties if any in that table Within each group the parties are grouped roughly according to the scheme left wing Christian right wing columnsElection Election years linking to the relevant articles sc seat change the number of seats that changed between parties Numbers between brackets assume merging parties to be the same as the new partyCabinet The resulting cabinets not necessarily in the same year Term The duration of the term of that cabinet in months measured between inaugurations so including the demissionary period after the next elections percentage of seats held by the government parties Note that the other numbers are not percentages but seats for a total of 150 and 100 before 1956 cellsbold party in cabinet government not enough votes to get a seat in parliament party didn t exist then or did not participate nationally no elections Party name abbreviations unofficial to fit the table GrL GroenLinks a merger of PPR PSP CPN and EVP CU ChristenUnie a merger of RPF and GVP In 2016 BIJ1 split off from DENK In 2021 JA21 split off from FvD Election sc Cabinet Term months PvdA D66 CU CDA VVD SP PvdD Volt BIJ1 DENK GrL 50PLUS SGP BBB JA21 FvD PVV2021 21 Rutte IV 52 9 24 5 15 34 9 6 3 1 3 8 1 3 1 3 8 172017 38 Rutte III 49 51 9 19 5 19 33 14 5 3 14 4 3 2 202012 23 Rutte II 60 53 38 12 5 13 41 15 2 4 2 3 152010 34 Rutte I 3 25 35 30 10 5 21 31 15 2 10 2 24Election sc Cabinet Term months PvdA D66 CU CDA VVD SP PvdD GrL SGP PVV CPN PSP PPR EVP DS70 RPF GPV BP LN AOV U55 CP CD LPF2006 30 Balkenende IV 44 53 33 3 6 41 22 25 2 7 2 9 Balkenende III 1 7 48 42 6 3 44 28 9 8 2 82003 24 Balkenende II 38 52 42 6 3 44 28 9 8 2 82002 36 Balkenende I 10 62 23 7 4 43 24 9 10 2 lt lt CU 2 261998 25 Kok II 47 65 45 14 29 38 5 11 3 3 21994 34 Kok I 48 61 37 24 34 31 2 5 2 3 2 6 1 31989 8 Lubbers III 57 69 49 12 54 22 6 3 lt lt GrL 1 2 11986 17 Lubbers II 40 54 52 9 54 27 3 1 2 1 1 1982 15 Lubbers I 44 54 47 6 45 36 3 3 3 2 1 2 1 1 van Agt III 1 5 43 44 17 48 26 3 3 3 3 2 11981 14 van Agt II 8 73 44 17 48 26 3 3 3 3 2 11977 19 Van Agt I 45 51 53 8 49 28 3 2 1 3 1 1 1In 1977 KVP ARP and CHU merged into CDA DS 70 split off from PvdA KNP is former Lijst Welter which split off from KVP in 1948 but returned to that party in 1955 PvdV is the forerunner of VVD Election sc Cabinet Term months PvdA DS70 D66 PPR KVP ARP CHU VVD CPN PSP SGP GPV RKPN BP NMP KNP PvdV1972 20 Den Uyl 2 55 65 43 6 6 7 27 14 7 22 7 2 3 2 1 3 Biesheuvel II 1 9 49 39 8 11 2 35 13 10 16 6 2 3 2 1 21971 19 Biesheuvel I 13 55 39 8 11 2 35 13 10 16 6 2 3 2 1 21967 15 De Jong 51 57 37 7 42 15 12 17 5 4 3 1 7 Zijlstra 1 4 42 43 50 13 13 16 4 4 3 1 3 Cals 19 71 43 50 13 13 16 4 4 3 1 31963 9 Marijnen 21 61 43 50 13 13 16 4 4 3 1 31959 8 De Quay 50 50 48 49 14 12 19 3 2 3 Beel II 1 5 51 50 49 15 13 13 7 3 expansion from 100 to 150 seats 85 50 49 15 13 13 7 3 1956 7 Drees IV 26 85 34 33 10 8 9 4 2 1952 6 Drees III 49 81 30 30 12 9 9 6 2 2 Drees II 18 76 27 32 13 9 8 8 2 11948 4 Drees I 31 76 27 32 13 9 8 8 2 11946 Beel I 25 61 29 32 13 8 10 2 6 Schermerhorn Drees 2 13 no election appointed by queen 1940 1945 War cabinets without elections 1 minority caretaker cabinet 2 extra parliamentary cabinet 3 minority cabinetSee also EditElectoral calendar Electoral system Electronic voting examples Netherlands Historic composition of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands Politics of the NetherlandsReferences Edit Article 64 4 of the Dutch constitution Tweede Kamer Kamerstuk Tweede Kamer 1984 1985 kamerstuknummer 18807 ondernummer 2 in Dutch Staten Generaal Digitaal p 12 Retrieved 24 March 2011 Elections European Parliament Retrieved 29 May 2020 Jacobs B Pieters W 2009 Electronic Voting in the Netherlands From Early Adoption to Early Abolishment Foundations of Security Analysis and Design V Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol 5705 p 121 CiteSeerX 10 1 1 159 9956 doi 10 1007 978 3 642 03829 7 4 ISBN 978 3 642 03828 0 Wij vertrouwen stemcomputers niet Archived from the original on 16 December 2008 EenVandaag het nieuws en actualiteiten programma van AVROTROS op NPO 1 Benoeming vacatures en ontslag burgemeesters in Dutch Rijksoverheid nl Netherlands Giovernment 12 October 2010 Archived from the original on 13 June 2018 Retrieved 13 June 2018 Benoeming en herbenoeming commissaris van de Koning in Dutch Rijksoverheid nl Rijksoverheid 6 July 2010 Retrieved 13 June 2018 Per 1 december geen lijstverbindingen meer Parlement amp Politiek in Dutch 9 November 2017 Retrieved 14 June 2018 Uitslag gemeenteraadsverkiezingen Archived from the original on 7 March 2010 in Dutch Kiesraad about eilandsraden Archived 24 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine 1 in Dutch Electoral Council Retrieved 29 March 2022 2 in Dutch Electoral Council Retrieved 29 March 2022 3 in Dutch Electoral Council Retrieved 29 March 2022 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elections in the Netherlands Adam Carr s Election Archive election results national results since 1850 and results of provincial elections 2nd half 20th century Dutch election results national results since 1918 by province Interview NSS Weekly Electoral Poll Peil nl Weekly Electoral Poll NSD European Election Database Netherlands publishes regional level election data NUTS 1 3 allows for comparisons of election results 1994 2010 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Elections in the Netherlands amp oldid 1138614735, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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