Elections in the Netherlands
Encyclopedia
Elections in the Netherlands are held for six territorial levels of government: the European Union
, the state, the twelve Provinces
of the Netherlands
, the 25 water board
s, the 418 municipalities (and the 3 public bodies in the Caribbean Netherlands) and in two cities (Amsterdam
and Rotterdam
) for neighbourhood councils (stadsdeelraden
). Apart from election
s, referenda
are also held occasionally, a fairly recent phenomenon in Dutch politics. 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, the 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 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 through the provincial councillors on the basis of the 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 in Tubbergen
), so 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 Dutch 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 resulting in 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 machine
s. Since then, most elections have been held using paper and pencil.
The most recent elections were the provincial elections
on 2 March 2011. The next elections will be the municipal elections on 5 March 2014.
.
If the House of Representatives is dissolved, due to a severe conflict between the House of Representatives and cabinet
, or within the cabinet, new elections (called dissolution elections) take place as soon as possible, usually 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 elections again happen 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. City councils and States-Provincial
cannot be dissolved, so no dissolution elections can occur. An exception to the four year term is made when two or more municipalities merge and new elections take place for the merged municipality.
Senate elections also take place every four year, in May following the provincial elections. The Senate can be dissolved, and subsequently dissolution elections take place, but since the States-Provincial remain the same, this seldom occurs. A Senate chosen by dissolution elections 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). Elections for the European Parliament always take place on a Thursday.
It is not necessary or even possible to register as a voter for elections in the Netherlands: everyone living in the Netherlands should be registered as a resident with the municipality they are living in (including their nationality and date of birth). The electoral register is derived from this data.
Dutch citizens who live abroad (and have deregistered themselves as a Dutch resident) are allowed 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.
, resulting in proportional representation.
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, invalidates it and points the voter to the booth.
Voting is done in one of two ways: using a red pencil or a voting machine
. In 2005, almost no municipalities planned to vote with the pencil anymore. However, serious doubt was raised over the computers, both in being easy to manipulate, and being able to be electronically eavesdropped from a distance. This led to a run on foreign voting computers and reintroduction of the red pencil in some municipalities in 2006, occasionally using converted medical waste disposal containers as voting boxes.
Dutch citizens living abroad are able to vote by registering in advance and then using a postal vote or, more recently, voting over the internet. The results are counted by the municipality of The Hague and included in its own results.
and Renswoude
). The final results are known around midnight and semi-officially announced the next morning, after which the 150 seats allocated. However, over the course of the days recounting might reveal some minor shifts in seating.
. Since the electoral 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.
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 CDA got 35.3% of the votes. Even then, however, CDA only got two residual seats because next biggest 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 PvdA
lost many votes to LPF, which became second biggest after CDA with 17.0% of the votes. CDA, however, had only 27.9% of the votes and therefore still only got 2 residual seats.
Parties may, however, form an alliance (lijstencombinatie), in which case they participate in the above calculations as one party and get a bigger chance of gaining residual seats (or getting one in the first place). The division of those seats between those parties is, however, done in a different way, by using the largest remainder method
, which favours the smaller parties rather than the bigger ones if there is a considerable difference in size. But the overall advantage is greatest for small parties of comparable size.
s, in each of them a party can use different lists. 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 politicologists, 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 city 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:
(The last number is the amount 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.
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 industry category. Another difference is that voting does not take place in person, but only by post (and sometimes telephone or the internet), over a period of about two weeks.
Dutch senate elections
The Senate is elected indirectly, by the provincial councillors (who are themselves chosen in direct elections). It is composed as follows:
Dutch European Parliament elections
, social-liberal D66
and local parties. The PVV
, the most right-wing party in the Dutch parliament, only participated in two municipalities, but had a big success by becoming the first and second biggest party respectively. CDA
, PvdA and SP
lost the most seats, but CDA still remained the largest party in total.
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, the state, the twelve Provinces
Provinces of the Netherlands
A Dutch province represents the administrative layer in between the national government and the local municipalities, having the responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance. The government of each province consists of three major parts: the Provinciale Staten which is the...
of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, the 25 water board
Water board (The Netherlands)
Dutch water boards are regional government bodies charged with managing the water barriers, the waterways, the water levels, water quality and sewage treatment in their respective regions...
s, the 418 municipalities (and the 3 public bodies in the Caribbean Netherlands) and in two cities (Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
) for neighbourhood councils (stadsdeelraden
Deelgemeente
A deelgemeente is a subdivision of a gemeente in Belgium and the Netherlands.-Belgium:...
). Apart from election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s, referenda
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
are also held occasionally, a fairly recent phenomenon in Dutch politics. 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, the legislative
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
power is invested in the States-General (Staten-Generaal), which is bicameral
Bicameralism
In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....
. The House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) has 150 members, elected for a four year term by proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
. Elections are also called after dissolution of the House of Representatives. All elections are direct
Direct election
Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the...
, except for the Senate (Eerste Kamer), which has 75 members, elected for a four year term through the provincial councillors on the basis of the proportional representation at the provincial elections.
The Netherlands has a multi-party system, with numerous parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
in which usually no one party ever secures an overall majority of votes (except occasionally in very small municipalities, such as in Tubbergen
Tubbergen
-Population centres:Albergen, Fleringen, Geesteren, Haarle, Harbrinkhoek, Hezingen, Langeveen, Mander, Manderveen, Mariaparochie, Reutum, Tubbergen and Vasse.-Religion:...
), so several parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
must cooperate to form a coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
. 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 Dutch 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 resulting in proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
. 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 machine
Voting machine
Voting machines are the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment , that is used to define ballots; to cast and count votes; to report or display election results; and to maintain and produce any audit trail information...
s. Since then, most elections have been held using paper and pencil.
The most recent elections were the provincial elections
Dutch provincial elections, 2011
Provincial elections were held on the Netherlands on Wednesday 2 March 2011. Eligible voters elected the members of the States-Provincial in the twelve provinces...
on 2 March 2011. The next elections will be the municipal elections on 5 March 2014.
Timing
The maximum parliamentary term is four years and elections are generally held about four years after the previous one. Normal 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 elections are postponed to May. The 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, PrinsjesdagPrinsjesdag
Prinsjesdag is the day on which the reigning monarch of the Netherlands addresses a joint session of the Dutch Senate and House of Representatives in the Ridderzaal or Hall of Knights in The Hague. The Speech from the Throne sets out the main features of government policy for the coming...
.
If the House of Representatives is dissolved, due to a severe conflict between the House of Representatives and cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
, or within the cabinet, new elections (called dissolution elections) take place as soon as possible, usually 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 elections again happen 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. City councils and States-Provincial
States-Provincial
The States'-Provincial is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the Provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has the responsibility for matters of sub-national or regional importance...
cannot be dissolved, so no dissolution elections can occur. An exception to the four year term is made when two or more municipalities merge and new elections take place for the merged municipality.
Senate elections also take place every four year, in May following the provincial elections. The Senate can be dissolved, and subsequently dissolution elections take place, but since the States-Provincial remain the same, this seldom occurs. A Senate chosen by dissolution elections 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). Elections for the European Parliament always take place on a Thursday.
Eligibility
Every Dutch citizen who has reached the age of 18 is eligible to vote (actief kiesrecht) or to get elected as member of the House of Representatives (passief kiesrecht). Notable exception is the municipal election, where persons younger than 18 can be elected, but may not take 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 one is a registered voter and must be handed over in order to vote. As of 1970, voting is not compulsory.It is not necessary or even possible to register as a voter for elections in the Netherlands: everyone living in the Netherlands should be registered as a resident with the municipality they are living in (including their nationality and date of birth). The electoral register is derived from this data.
Dutch citizens who live abroad (and have deregistered themselves as a Dutch resident) are allowed 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
As described above, the House of Representatives is elected using a system of open party listsOpen list
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected...
, resulting in proportional representation.
Election
For all elections except water board elections, votings are organized per municipality. At every municipality, there are multiple voting stations, usually in communal buildings, such as churches, schools, and recently, railway stations. There are two different systems: using the calling card (oproepkaart) or the voting pass (stempas). With the oproepkaart, voters can only vote at the closest voting station, using their card, or if lost, their identification. With the stempas, users can vote at any station in the municipality, but need the stempas. 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, invalidates it and points the voter to the booth.
Voting is done in one of two ways: using a red pencil or a voting machine
Voting machine
Voting machines are the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment , that is used to define ballots; to cast and count votes; to report or display election results; and to maintain and produce any audit trail information...
. In 2005, almost no municipalities planned to vote with the pencil anymore. However, serious doubt was raised over the computers, both in being easy to manipulate, and being able to be electronically eavesdropped from a distance. This led to a run on foreign voting computers and reintroduction of the red pencil in some municipalities in 2006, occasionally using converted medical waste disposal containers as voting boxes.
Dutch citizens living abroad are able to vote by registering in advance and then using a postal vote or, more recently, voting over the internet. The results are counted by the municipality of The Hague and included in its own results.
Post-election
Polls close at 21:00 and votes are called immediately. For national elections, the first results usually come in five minutes after the polls are closed (from the municipalities with the fewest inhabitants, SchiermonnikoogSchiermonnikoog
Schiermonnikoog is an island, a municipality, and a national park in the northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland....
and Renswoude
Renswoude
Renswoude is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht.-External links:*...
). The final results are known around midnight and semi-officially announced the next morning, after which the 150 seats allocated. However, over the course of the days recounting might reveal some minor shifts in seating.
Seat assignment
The electorate in the Netherlands during the last general elections in 2010 was 12,524,152, of whom 75% voted, resulting in 9,442,977 votes (of which 9,416,001 valid votes). With 150 seats, that means a quota of 62,773 votes per seat, the so called Hare quotaHare quota
The Hare quota is a formula used under some forms of the Single Transferable Vote system and the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation...
. Since the electoral 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
D'Hondt method
The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
, a highest averages method
Highest averages method
The highest averages method is the name for a variety of ways to allocate seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems....
, 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
Dutch general election, 1989
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on September 6, 1989.-National summary:...
, when CDA got 35.3% of the votes. Even then, however, CDA only got two residual seats because next biggest party (PvdA) had 31.9% of the votes. The biggest difference between the first and second party was at the 2002 elections
Dutch general election, 2002
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on May 15, 2002....
, the most dramatic elections in Dutch history, when especially PvdA
Labour Party (Netherlands)
The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...
lost many votes to LPF, which became second biggest after CDA with 17.0% of the votes. CDA, however, had only 27.9% of the votes and therefore still only got 2 residual seats.
Parties may, however, form an alliance (lijstencombinatie), in which case they participate in the above calculations as one party and get a bigger chance of gaining residual seats (or getting one in the first place). The division of those seats between those parties is, however, done in a different way, by using the largest remainder method
Largest remainder method
The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems...
, which favours the smaller parties rather than the bigger ones if there is a considerable difference in size. But the overall advantage is greatest for small parties of comparable size.
Assigning people to seats
After seats are assigned to the parties, people have to be assigned to the seats. The Netherlands has 20 electoral districtElectoral district
An electoral district is a distinct territorial subdivision for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body...
s, in each of them a party can use different lists. 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
Largest remainder method
The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems...
.
The second step is calculating which candidate received on his or her own more votes than 25% of the electoral quota
Electoral quota
An electoral quota is a election threshold.Types of electoral quotas:* Hare quota* Droop Quota* Imperiali quota* Hagenbach-Bischoff 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
Lijstduwer
Lijstduwer is a Dutch term for the last candidate on a party list.In Suriname, the Netherlands and Belgium, this position is often taken by well-known non-politicians such as artists and sportspeople. They are officially a candidate, but they are put at the end of the party list in a bid to...
('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 politicologists, 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
Hilbert van der Duim
Hilbert van der Duim is a former speed skater. A two-time world and European champion, Van der Duim "won often but also fell often", and has become famous for some of the incidents that happened to him during his career.-Career:Hilbert van der Duim became World Allround Champion in 1980, being the...
(1994) got a city council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
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
Oude IJsselstreek
Oude IJsselstreek is a municipality in the eastern Netherlands. It came into existence on 1 January, 2005 through a merger of the former municipalities Gendringen and Wisch.- Geography and population centres :...
. 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:
- van de Wardt, P. 2.061
- Aalbers-van Ham, A.A.F.J. 224
- Steentjes, B.W.J. 451
- Bergevoet, R.J.W.M. 245
- Tekinerdoğan, 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-Löverink, S.A.M. 150
- Büchner, 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
- Löverink, B.A.S. 20
(The last number is the amount 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.
Water boards
Elections for the water boards have some similarities to other elections mentioned above, but also some distinctive differences. Similar to e.g. 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 industry category. Another difference is that voting does not take place in person, but only by post (and sometimes telephone or the internet), over a period of about two weeks.
Latest national elections
Dutch general electionsDutch senate elections
The Senate is elected indirectly, by the provincial councillors (who are themselves chosen in direct elections). It is composed as follows:
Dutch European Parliament elections
Latest municipal elections
The 2010 Dutch municipal election saw a success for the right-wing VVDPeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
, social-liberal D66
Democrats 66
Democrats 66 is a progressive and social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned, young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system; it proposed to create an...
and local parties. The PVV
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
, the most right-wing party in the Dutch parliament, only participated in two municipalities, but had a big success by becoming the first and second biggest party respectively. CDA
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
, PvdA and SP
Socialist Party (Netherlands)
The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...
lost the most seats, but CDA still remained the largest party in total.
Next elections
The next elections in the Netherlands are planned for (in chronological order):- Municipalities: 5 March 2014
- European Parliament: 2014
- Provinces: March 2015
- House of Representatives: 13 May 2015
- Senate (indirect elections): May 2015
See also
- Politics of the NetherlandsPolitics of the NetherlandsThe politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy and a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state...
- Electoral calendar
- Electoral system
- Historic composition of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands
External links
- Adam Carr's Election Archive
- latest election (with party logos)
- 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