IFES

June 9, 2010 Confirmed

Netherlands

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Election for Eerste Kamer (Dutch First Chamber)

More Info:

At stake in this election:

  • 150 seats in the Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer)

Description of government structure:

  • Chief of State: Queen BEATRIX
  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Jan Peter BALKENENDE
  • 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 N/A.
  • 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.**

* 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.

Main parties in the electoral race:

Population and number of registered voters:

  • Population: 16,715,999 (July 2009 est.)
  • Registered Voters: 12,524,152 (June 2010 )

Elections in Netherlands