House of Representatives (Netherlands)

The House of Representatives Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal
States General of the Netherlands
Type
Type	Lower House
Leadership
Speaker	Khadija Arib, PvdA Since 13 January 2016
Structure
Seats	150
Political groups	Government (76)      VVD (40)      PvdA (36) Opposition parties (74)      SP (15)      CDA (13)      PVV (12)      D66 (12)      CU (5)      GL (4)      SGP (3)      PvdD (2)      50PLUS (1)      Independents (7)
Elections
Voting system	Party-list proportional representation D'Hondt method
Last election	12 September 2012
Next election	15 March 2017 or earlier
Meeting place
Binnenhof The Hague, Netherlands
Website
House of Representatives Tweede Kamer

The House of Representatives (Dutch: Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal [ˈtʋeːdə ˈkaːmər dɛr ˈstaːtə(n) ˌɣeːnəˈraːl], or simply: Tweede Kamer, literally, Second Chamber) is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. It has 150 seats which are filled through elections using a party-list proportional representation. It sits in the Binnenhof in The Hague.

Name

Although this body is called the "House of Representatives" in English, this is not a direct translation of its Dutch name, the "Second Chamber" or more colloquially just the "Chamber". Rather than "representatives" (afgevaardigden), members of the House are referred to as Tweede Kamerlid ("member of the Second Chamber").

Functions

The House of Representatives is the main chamber of parliament, where discussion of proposed legislation and review of the actions of the cabinet takes place. Both the Cabinet and the House of Representatives itself have the right to propose legislation; the House of Representatives discusses it and, if adopted by a majority, sends it on to the Senate. Review of the actions of the cabinet takes the form of formal interrogations, which may result in motions urging the cabinet to take, or refrain from, certain actions. No individual may be a member of both parliament and cabinet, except in a caretaker cabinet that has not yet been succeeded when a new House is sworn in.

The House of Representatives is also responsible for the first round of selection for judges to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. It submits a list of three names for every vacant position to the Government. Furthermore, it elects the Dutch Ombudsman and his subsidiaries.

Elections

The maximum term of the House of Representatives is four years. Anybody eligible to vote in the Netherlands also has the right to establish a political party and contest elections for the House of Representatives (see Political parties of the Netherlands). Elections are called when the government loses parliament's confidence, the governing coalition breaks down, the term of the House of Representatives expires or when no governing coalition can be formed.

Parties wanting to take part must register 43 days before the elections, supplying a nationwide list of at most 50 candidates (80 if the party already has more than 15 seats). Parties that do not have any sitting candidates in the House of Representatives must also pay a deposit (11,250 euro for the November 2006 elections, for all districts together) and provide 30 signatures of support from residents of each of the 20 electoral districts in which they want to collect votes. The candidate lists are placed in the hands of the voters at least 14 days before the election. Two or more parties can agree to combine their separate lists (this is known as a 'list combination' or lijstencombinatie), which increases the chance of winning a remainder seat. Each candidate list is numbered, with the person in the first position known as the lijsttrekker ("list puller"). The lijsttrekker is usually appointed by the party to lead its election campaign. The lijsttrekker of the party receiving the most seats will often become the Prime Minister. Parties may choose to compete with different candidate lists in each of the 19 electoral districts, but as seats are allocated on national rather than district level, most parties have almost identical lists in all districts with candidates running nationwide. Only large parties usually have some regional candidates at the bottom of their lists.

Citizens of the Netherlands aged 18 or over have the right to vote; exceptions are: 1) prisoners serving a term of more than one year are excluded; 2) those who have been declared incapable by court because of insanity are also excluded. A single vote can be placed on any one candidate. Many voters select one of the lijsttrekkers (Jan Peter Balkenende, for example, received 2,198,114 of the CDA's 2,608,573 votes in the November 2006 elections), but alternatively a preference vote may be made for a candidate lower down the list.

Once the election results are known, the seats are allocated to the parties. The number of valid national votes cast is divided by 150, the number of seats available, to give a threshold for each seat (the kiesdeler). Each party's number of votes is divided by this threshold to give an initial number of seats. Any party that received fewer votes than the threshold (i.e., less than one in 150 of the total votes cast) fails to gain representation in the House of Representatives, thus the threshold is always at 0.67% of the total number of valid national votes (roughly one seat for every 50,000 votes). This is one of the lowest thresholds for national parliament elections in the world. In 1977, for instance, one party gained a seat despite winning only 0.77% of the vote. Any party that received more than 75% of the threshold will have its deposit refunded.

Exterior of the House of Representatives

After the initial seats are allocated, the remainder seats are allocated using the D'Hondt method of largest averages. This system favours slightly the larger parties. List combinations compete for the remainder seats as one list of the combined size of all parties in the combination, thus having more chance to gain remainder seats. Afterwards, the seats are allocated to the parties within the list combination using the largest remainder method.

Once the number of seats allocated to each party is known, in general they are allocated to candidates in the order that they appear on the party's list. (Hence, before the elections, the candidates near the top may be described as in an electable position, depending on the number of seats that the party is likely to obtain.) At this stage, however, the preference votes are also taken into account. Any candidate receiving more than one quarter of the threshold on personal preference votes (the 'preference threshold' or voorkeursdrempel, 0.1675% of the total number of valid votes), is considered elected in their own right, leapfrogging candidates higher on the list. In the November 2006 elections, only one candidate received a seat exclusively through preference votes, while 26 other candidates reaching the preference threshold were already elected based on their position on the list. If a candidate cannot take up the position in parliament (e.g., if they become a minister, decide not to enter parliament, or later resign) then the next candidate on the list takes their place.

After all seats are allocated a government is formed, usually based on a majority of the seats. Since 2012, the House of Representatives appoints an informateur (in previous years the informateur was appointed by the monarch), who checks out possible coalitions, and formateur, who leads formation negotiations. At the end of the negotiations, the formateur becomes prime minister. All cabinet members must resign from parliament, as the constitution does not allow a cabinet member to hold a seat in the House of Representatives.

Due to the nationwide party-list system and the low election threshold, it is nearly impossible for one party to win the 75 seats needed for a majority in the House of Representatives. Indeed, since the current party-list proportional representation system was introduced in 1918, no party has even approached the number of seats necessary for an outright majority. The highest proportion of seats was 54 out of 150, obtained by the CDA in 1986 and 1989. Between 1891 and 1897, the Liberal Union was the last party to have an absolute majority of seats in the House of Representatives. All Dutch governments since then have been coalitions of two or more parties.

Current situation

The Dutch general election of 2012 was held on Wednesday, 12 September 2012, and followed the call for new elections after the fall of the First Rutte cabinet. The new Members of the House of Representatives where installed on 20 September 2012. The formation talks led to the installation of the Second Rutte cabinet, composed of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Labour Party on 5 November 2012.

List of Parliamentary leaders in the House of Representatives

Parliamentary leaders			Party	Service as Parliamentary leader	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Halbe Zijlstra (born 1969)	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD)	1 November 2012 ()	20 September 2012 () 30 November 2006 – 14 October 2010 ()
		Diederik Samsom (born 1971)	Labour Party (PvdA)	20 March 2012 ()	30 January 2003 ()
		Emile Roemer (born 1962)	Socialist Party (SP)	5 March 2010 ()	30 November 2006 ()
		Sybrand van Haersma Buma (born 1965)	Christian Democratic Appeal CDA	12 October 2010 ()	23 May 2002 ()
		Geert Wilders (born 1963)	Party for Freedom (PVV)	30 November 2006 ()	16 July 2002 () 25 August 1998 – 23 May 2002 ()
		Alexander Pechtold (born 1965)	Democrats 66 (D66)	30 November 2006 ()	30 November 2006 ()
		Gert-Jan Segers (born 1969)	ChristianUnion (CU)	10 November 2015 ()	20 September 2012 ()
		Jesse Klaver (born 1986)	GreenLeft (GL)	12 May 2015 ()	17 June 2010 ()
		Kees van der Staaij (born 1968)	Reformed Political Party (SGP)	9 June 2010 ()	19 May 1998 ()
		Marianne Thieme (born 1972)	Party for the Animals (PvdD)	15 May 2012 () 30 November 2006 – 24 January 2012 ()	15 May 2012 () 30 November 2006 – 24 January 2012 ()
		Henk Krol (born 1950)	50PLUS (50+)	10 September 2014 () 20 September 2012 – 4 October 2013 ()	10 September 2014 () 20 September 2012 – 4 October 2013 ()
Independent Parliamentary leaders			Group/Member Name Former Party Seat(s)	Service as Parliamentary leader	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Louis Bontes (born 1956)	Group Bontes/Van Klaveren (Expelled from PVV) 2	15 April 2014 ()	17 June 2010 ()
		Tunahan Kuzu (born 1981)	Group Kuzu/Öztürk (Split from PvdA) 2	18 November 2014 ()	20 November 2012 ()
		Roland van Vliet (born 1969)	Member Van Vliet (Split from PVV) 1	20 March 2014 ()	17 June 2010 ()
		Norbert Klein (born 1956)	Member Klein (Split from 50+) 1	2 June 2014 (	20 September 2012 ()
		Johan Houwers (born 1957)	Member Houwers (Expelled from VVD) 1	25 March 2015 ()	25 March 2015 () 8 November 2012 – 23 July 2013 () 26 October 2010 – 20 September 2012 ()

List of Members of the Presidum of the House of Representatives

Speaker of the House of Representatives			Party	Service as Speaker	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Khadija Arib (born 1960)	Labour Party (PvdA)	13 January 2016 ()	1 March 2007 () 19 May 1998 – 30 November 2006 ()
First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives			Party	Service as First Deputy Speaker	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Khadija Arib (born 1960)	Labour Party (PvdA)	1 November 2012 ()	1 March 2007 () 19 May 1998 – 30 November 2006 ()
Second Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives			Party	Service as Second Deputy Speaker	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Martin Bosma (born 1964)	Party for Freedom (PVV)	30 June 2010 ()	30 November 2006 ()
Third Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives			Party	Service as Third Deputy Speaker	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Ronald van Raak (born 1969)	Socialist Party (SP)	23 June 2010 ()	30 November 2006 ()
Fourth Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives			Party	Service as Fourth Deputy Speaker	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Raymond Knops (born 1971)	Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA)	26 September 2012 ()	7 September 2010 () 1 March 2007 – 17 June 2010 () 11 October 2005 – 30 November 2006 ()
Fifth Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives			Party	Service as Fifth Deputy Speaker	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Stientje van Veldhoven (born 1973)	Democrats 66 (D66)	20 September 2012 ()	17 June 2010 ()
Sixth Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives			Party	Service as Sixth Deputy Speaker	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Joël Voordewind (born 1965)	ChristianUnion (CU)	20 September 2012 ()	30 November 2006 ()
Seventh Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives			Party	Service as Seventh Deputy Speaker	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Ton Elias (born 1955)	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD)	6 November 2012 ()	18 December 2008 ()

 Summary of the 12 September 2012 Dutch House of Representatives election results

Party		Lijsttrekker	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Mark Rutte	2,504,948	26.6	+6.1	41	+10
	Labour Party	Diederik Samsom	2,340,750	24.8	+5.2	38	+8
	Party for Freedom	Geert Wilders	950,263	10.1	-5.4	15	-9
	Socialist Party	Emile Roemer	909,853	9.7	-0.2	15	0
	Christian Democratic Appeal	Sybrand van Haersma Buma	801,620	8.5	-5.1	13	-8
	Democrats 66	Alexander Pechtold	757,091	8.0	+1.1	12	+2
	Christian Union	Arie Slob	294,586	3.1	-0.1	5	0
	GreenLeft	Jolande Sap	219,896	2.3	-4.3	4	-6
	Reformed Political Party	Kees van der Staaij	196,780	2.1	+0.4	3	+1
	Party for the Animals	Marianne Thieme	182,162	1.9	0.6	2	0
	50PLUS	Henk Krol	177,631	1.9	-	2	-
	Pirate Party	Dirk Poot	30,600	0.3	+0.2	0	0
	Party for Human and Spirit	Lea Manders	18,310	0.2	-0.1	0	0
	Sovereign Independent Pioneers Netherlands	Johan Oldenkamp	12,982	0.1	–	0	–
	Party of the Future	Johan Vlemmix	8,194	0.1	–	0	–
	Democratic Political Turning Point	Hero Brinkman	7,363	0.1	–	0	–
	Libertarian Party	Toine Manders	4,163	0.0	–	0	–
	Netherlands Local	Ton Schijvenaars	2,842	0.0	–	0	–
	Liberal Democratic Party	Sammy van Tuyll van Serooskerken	2,126	0.0	–	0	–
	Anti-Europe Party	Arnold Reinten	2,013	0.0	–	0	–
	Political Party NXD	Anil Samlal	62	0.0	–	0	–
Total valid votes			9,424,235	100	–	150	–
Invalid/blank votes			37,988	0.4
Total			9,462,223	100
Registered voters/turnout			12,689,810	74.6
Source: Verkiezingsuitslagen, Kerngegevens Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2012. Nederlandse Kiesraad. 17 September 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2012.

Members of the House of Representatives

Main article: Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2012–present

Historical compositions

Main article: Historic composition of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands

Representation per party 1946-2006

Until 1956, there were 100 seats. This was expanded to 150 seats, which is the current number.

To give an overview of the history of the House of Representatives, the figure on the right shows the seat distribution in the House from the first general elections after WWII (1946) to the current situation. The left-wing parties are towards the bottom, the Christian parties in the centre, with the right-wing parties towards the top. Occasionally, single-issue (or narrow-focus) parties have arisen, and these are shown at the extreme top. Vertical lines indicate general elections. Although these are generally held every four years, the resulting coalition governments do not always finish their term without a government crisis, which is often followed by fresh elections. Hence the frequent periods shorter than four years.

External links

• (English) Official website
• (Dutch) Official site
• (English) Virtual tour of the houses of parliament
• (Dutch) Seat allocation in the House of Representatives. Click the diagram on the left to see names and photos of all representatives per section.
• (Dutch) Official site for archives since 1995