Elections of the Netherlands Senate first results...

[JeroenS]

As it seems by the first results the governement of the Netherlands has lost the elections of the senate!!!

Government today is a minority government made by 2 pollitical parties (right wing liberals (VVD) and christian democrats (CDA) with the support of the extreme right wing party (PVV).

Last march the people (citizens) of the Netherlands voted for the provinicial parlements, the members elected there have voted today for the senate (so the people (citizens) can not vote for the senate directly).

Anyway... No matter how hard the minority government tried to get votes from the elected representatives they did not get them, the VVD CDA and PVV will only have 37 seats in the senate (and they need 38 for a majority).

I am so happy now :-D

 

[gb2000ie]

If I understand this right - it means that the agenda of the extreme right has been blocked? How powerful is the Dutch senate? It is like the US where the have to pass all bills, or like Ireland where they can only propose amendments and delay legislation?

B.

 

[Tjerk12]

As it seems by the first results the governement of the Netherlands has lost the elections of the senate!!!

Government today is a minority government made by 2 pollitical parties (right wing liberals (VVD) and christian democrats (CDA) with the support of the extreme right wing party (PVV).

Last march the people (citizens) of the Netherlands voted for the provinicial parlements, the members elected there have voted today for the senate (so the people (citizens) can not vote for the senate directly).

Anyway... No matter how hard the minority government tried to get votes from the elected representatives they did not get them, the VVD CDA and PVV will only have 37 seats in the senate (and they need 38 for a majority).

I am so happy now :-D

That is indeed good news. This means not a change in government, but the influence of the right wing will be smaller now.

The senate (eerste kamer) in The Netherlands has to approve the laws made by the government (tweede kamer). Normally it is a kind of check if the new law violates the constitution. But that happens in a political way, not pure as an abstraction. So it makes a difference when the majority of the senate differs from the majority of the government.

 

[JeroenS]

It seems now they only will get a majority if they wil get support from the SGP, that is another extreme right wing party but based on extreme on christian believes. The SGP is "pro life" but... you can not get a vaccination against deseases like polio (it is Gods wil if you get polio or not) the SGP is AGAINST womens rights (SGP believes women are not able to vote/or be voted because God said so - that in the way they read the Bible), the SGP is AGAINST GAY rights, the SGP is AGAINST television and internet and so on...

So I guess we will now see the "true faces" of the right wing liberals and the christian democrats (with support of extreme right wing) when they want to pass a law in the senate...

In the Netherlands we use a multi party system, everybody can be voted in town council, province parlement or in the house of parlement as long as you get as much votes that is needed for 1 seat.

Today in the house of parlement there are 10 parties represented so we always need a coalition of 2 or more parties to form the government since it is almost impossible for 1 party to get 50% of seats + 1 ...

 

[gb2000ie]

Goodness me - who'd have thought that the Dutch Christian right could be even more extreme than the American bible belt!!!

You learn something new every day!

Often times what it takes to get extremist parties out of power is to give them some power for a while so people get to see their true colours.

Sounds like interesting times ahead in the Netherlands.

B.

 

[JeroenS]

The Dutch Bible Belt (look on a map of the Netherlands and follow a line starting in Goes in Zeeland till Meppel in Overijsel follow then to the north east on to Coevorden and then into Germany) is not more extreme then the Bible Belt in the USA, but due to the political system (get enough votes for a seat and you are in the parlement) it shows here, this unlike like in most countries...

 

[Tjerk12]

The famous Dutch cabaret perfomer Wim Kan once said: "when there are 10 Dutchmen, you have at least 5 different political parties and 10 different churches (these are probably not exactly his words, but it is how I remember them).

 

[gb2000ie]

The famous Dutch cabaret perfomer Wim Kan once said: "when there are 10 Dutchmen, you have at least 5 different political parties and 10 different churches (these are probably not exactly his words, but it is how I remember them).

Reminds me of the joke that if you put 2 Irishmen on a desert Island you'd get three political parties.

B.