IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Netherlands

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Region

Netherlands
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Region: Europe

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: Queen BEATRIX
Head of Government: Prime Minister Mark RUTTE
Assembly: Netherlands has a bicameral States General (Staten Generaal) consisting of the First Chamber (Eerste Kamer) with 75 seats and the Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer) with 150 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The Queen is hereditary.
The Prime Minister is appointed by the monarch.**
In the First Chamber (Eerste Kamer) 75 members are indirectly elected through a flexible-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms*. In the Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer) 150 members are elected through a flexible-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.**

** The leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the monarch.

* Voting is by members of the country's 12 Provincial Councils. The value of each vote is weighted according to the population of the respective province. This is in order to account for any malapportionment of seats to Provincial Councils. There is one national district and no formal threshold. Voters must cast preference votes. List order does not change unless a candidate has achieved 50 percent of one quota, which is defined as a list's vote share divided by its seat share.

** There is one national district and no formal threshold. Voters must cast preference votes. List order does not change unless a candidate has achieved 25 percent of one quota, which is defined as a list's vote share divided by its seat share.