House of Representatives (Netherlands)

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House of Representatives Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal
States General of the Netherlands
Type
Type	Lower House
Leadership
Speaker	Vera Bergkamp, D66 since 7 April 2021
Structure
Seats	150
Political groups	Government (demissionary) (78)[1]   VVD (34)   D66 (24)   CDA (15)   CU (5) Opposition parties (72)   PVV (17)   SP (9)   PvdA (9)   GL (8)   PvdD (6)   FvD (5)   Volt (3)   JA21 (3)   SGP (3)   DENK (3)   BBB (1)   BIJ1 (1)   Indep. groups (4)   (3)[a]   (1)[b]
Elections
Voting system	Party-list proportional representation D'Hondt method
Last election	17 March 2021
Next election	In or before March 2025
Meeting place
Bezuidenhoutseweg 67 The Hague, Netherlands
Website
House of Representatives

The House of Representatives (Dutch: Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, pronounced [ˈtʋeːdə ˈkaːmər dɛr ˈstaːtə(n) ˌɣeːnəˈraːl] (listen); commonly referred to as the Tweede Kamer, literally Second Chamber of the States General) 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. Generally, it sits in the Binnenhof in The Hague however it has temporarily moved to the former building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Bezuidenhoutseweg 67 in the Hague because of renovations in the Binnenhof.^[2]

Name[]

Although this body is officially called the "House of Representatives" in English, this is not a direct translation of its official Dutch name, the "Second Chamber of the States General", "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 legislative body of the States General, 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 their subsidiaries.

Elections[]

The normal term of the House of Representatives is four years. 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[]

Anybody eligible to vote in the Netherlands also has the right to establish a political party and contest elections for the House of Representatives. 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.

Party lists[]

The candidate lists are placed in the hands of the voters at least 14 days before the election. 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, and is almost always the party's political leader and candidate for Prime Minister. Parties may choose to compete with different candidate lists in each of the 20 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. From 1973 until abolition in June 2017 it was possible for two or more parties to combine their separate lists to increase the chance of winning a remainder seat. This was known as a 'list combination' or Lijstverbinding / lijstencombinatie.^[3]

Registration and voting[]

Citizens of the Kingdom of the Netherlands aged 18 or over have the right to vote, with the exception of 1) prisoners serving a term of more than one year 2) those who have been declared incapable by court because of insanity 3) residents of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, unless they have spent ten years residing in the Netherlands or work for the Dutch civil service.^[4] Eligible citizens resident in the Netherlands are able to vote if they are registered on a municipal population register (Basisregistratie Personen). Eligible citizens outside the Netherlands can permanently register to vote at the municipality of The Hague, provided they have a current Dutch passport or identity card.

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.

Allocation of seats[]

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); 1/150th is approximately 0.67% of the valid votes. Each party's number of votes is divided by this threshold, and rounded down to the nearest whole number, to give an initial number of seats equal to the number of times the threshold was reached.^[5] Any party that received fewer votes than the threshold fails to gain representation in the House of Representatives. After the initial seats are allocated, the remainder seats are allocated among the parties that received at least one seat, using the D'Hondt method of largest averages. This system slightly favours the larger parties. Since parties that received fewer votes than required to obtain one whole seat are not eligible for remainder seats, there is a de facto election threshold of 0.67%.^[6] This threshold is one of the lowest for national parliaments in the world, and there are usually multiple parties winning seats with 2% or less of the vote. Any party that did not have seats in the House at the time of the election will have its deposit refunded if it receives more than 75% of the threshold (1/200th of the vote).

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.

Formation of governing coalition[]

After all seats are allocated, a series of negotiations take place in order to form a government that, usually, commands a majority in the chamber. Since 2012, the House of Representatives appoints a "scout" to ask the major party leaders about prospective coalitions. On the basis of the scout's interviews, the House of Representatives then appoints an informateur, who checks out possible coalitions, and formateur, who leads negotiations (in previous years the informateur and formateur were appointed by the monarch). It typically takes a few months before the formateur is ready to accept a royal invitation to form a government and become 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, a typical House of Representatives has ten or more factions represented. Such fragmentation makes it nearly impossible for one party to win the 76 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 that are even theoretically needed to govern alone, let alone win enough for an outright majority. The highest proportion of seats won by a single party since then has been 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 cabinets since then have been coalitions of two or more parties.

House of Representatives offices[]

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2021)

The buildings that house the individual offices of the Members of the House of Representatives and conference rooms for closed-door party meetings are all located on the Binnenhof. The main buildings of the old Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Colonial Affairs are used as accommodations.

• 

  The old Ministry of Justice building

• 

  The old Ministry of Colonial Affairs building

• 

  Grand Hotel Central building

• 

  Binnenhof Building C

• 

  Binnenhof Building 1A

Composition[]

Historical compositions[]

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 World War II (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.

Current situation[]

The general election of 2021 was held on Wednesday, 17 March 2021.

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v t

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	2,279,130	21.87	34	+1
	Democrats 66	1,565,861	15.02	24	+5
	Party for Freedom	1,124,482	10.79	17	−3
	Christian Democratic Appeal	990,601	9.50	15	−4
	Socialist Party	623,371	5.98	9	−5
	Labour Party	597,192	5.73	9	0
	GroenLinks	537,308	5.16	8	−6
	Forum for Democracy	523,083	5.02	8	+6
	Party for the Animals	399,750	3.84	6	+1
	Christian Union	351,275	3.37	5	0
	Volt Netherlands	252,480	2.42	3	New
	JA21	246,620	2.37	3	New
	Reformed Political Party	215,249	2.07	3	0
	DENK	211,237	2.03	3	0
	50PLUS	106,702	1.02	1	−3
	Farmer–Citizen Movement	104,319	1.00	1	New
	BIJ1	87,238	0.84	1	+1
	Code Orange	40,731	0.39	0	New
	NIDA	33,834	0.32	0	New
	Splinter	30,328	0.29	0	New
	Pirate Party	22,816	0.22	0	0
	JONG	15,297	0.15	0	New
	Trots op Nederland	13,198	0.13	0	0
	Henk Krol List	9,264	0.09	0	New
	NLBeter	8,657	0.08	0	New
	List 30	8,277	0.08	0	New
	Libertarian Party	5,546	0.05	0	0
	OpRecht	5,449	0.05	0	New
	Jesus Lives	5,015	0.05	0	0
	The Party Party	3,744	0.04	0	New
	Ubuntu Connected Front	1,880	0.02	0	New
	Free and Social Netherlands	942	0.01	0	New
	Party of Unity	804	0.01	0	New
	We Are the Netherlands	553	0.01	0	New
	Modern Netherlands	245	0.00	0	New
	Party for the Republic	255	0.00	0	New
	The Greens	119	0.00	0	0
Total		10,422,852	100.00	150	0
Valid votes		10,422,852	99.62
Invalid/blank votes		39,825	0.38
Total votes		10,462,677	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		13,293,186	78.71
Source: Kiesraad

Parliamentary leaders[]

Parliamentary leaders			Party	Service as parliamentary leader	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Mark Rutte (born 1967)	VVD	31 March 2021 (147 days)	31 March 2021 (147 days) show Previous Service 30 January 2003 – 27 May 2003 (28 days) 28 June 2006 – 14 October 2010 (4 years, 108 days) 20 September 2012 – 5 November 2012 (46 days) 23 March 2017 – 26 October 2017 (217 days)
		Rob Jetten (born 1987)	D66	25 May 2021 (92 days) 8 October 2018 – 31 March 2021 (2 years, 174 days)	23 March 2017 (4 years, 155 days)
		Geert Wilders (born 1963)	PVV	30 November 2006 (14 years, 268 days)	26 July 2002 (19 years, 60 days) 25 August 1998 – 23 May 2002 (3 years, 271 days)
		Wopke Hoekstra (born 1975)	CDA	31 March 2021 (147 days)	31 March 2021 (147 days)
		Lilian Marijnissen (born 1985)	SP	13 December 2017 (3 years, 255 days)	23 March 2017 (4 years, 155 days)
		Lilianne Ploumen (born 1962)	PvdA	14 January 2021 (223 days)	23 March 2017 (4 years, 155 days)
		Jesse Klaver (born 1986)	GL	12 May 2015 (6 years, 105 days)	17 June 2010 (11 years, 69 days)
		Dr. Thierry Baudet (born 1983)	FvD	23 March 2017 (4 years, 155 days)	23 March 2017 (4 years, 155 days)
		Esther Ouwehand (born 1976)	PvdD	9 October 2019 (1 year, 320 days) 9 October 2018 – 31 January 2019 (114 days) 24 January 2012 – 14 May 2012 (111 days)	18 October 2016 (4 years, 311 days) 30 November 2006 – 17 November 2015 (8 years, 352 days)
		Gert-Jan Segers (born 1969)	CU	10 November 2015 (5 years, 288 days)	20 September 2012 (8 years, 339 days)
		Laurens Dassen (born 1985)	Volt	31 March 2021 (147 days)	31 March 2021 (147 days)
		Joost Eerdmans (born 1976)	JA21	31 March 2021 (147 days) 25 September 2006 – 30 November 2006 (66 days)	31 March 2021 (147 days) 23 May 2002 – 30 November 2006 (4 years, 191 days)
		Kees van der Staaij (born 1968)	SGP	9 June 2010 (11 years, 77 days)	19 May 1998 (23 years, 98 days)
		Farid Azarkan (born 1971)	DENK	22 March 2020 (1 year, 156 days) 23 April 2018 – 2 September 2018 (132 days)	23 March 2017 (4 years, 155 days)
		Caroline van der Plas (born 1967)	BBB	31 March 2021 (147 days)	31 March 2021 (147 days)
		Sylvana Simons (born 1971)	BIJ1	31 March 2021 (147 days)	31 March 2021 (147 days)
Independent Parliamentary leaders			Group/Member (Seats)	Service as parliamentary leader	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Wybren van Haga (born 1967)	Van Haga Group (3) (split from FvD)	13 May 2021 (104 days) 24 September 2019 – 1 December 2020 (1 year, 68 days)	31 October 2017 (3 years, 298 days)
		Liane den Haan (born 1967)	Member Den Haan (1) (split from 50+)	31 March 2021 (147 days)	6 May 2021 (111 days)

Members of the Presidium[]

Portrait		Name	Position	Party	Service in the Presidium	Service as a member of the House of Representatives
		Vera Bergkamp (born 1971)	Speaker	D66	31 October 2017 (3 years, 298 days)	20 September 2012 (8 years, 339 days)
		Ockje Tellegen (born 1974)	First Deputy Speaker	VVD	31 October 2017 (3 years, 298 days)	20 September 2012 (8 years, 339 days)
		Martin Bosma (born 1964)	Second Deputy Speaker	PVV	30 June 2010 (11 years, 148 days)	30 November 2006 (14 years, 268 days)
		Anne Kuik (born 1987)	Third Deputy Speaker	CDA		23 March 2017 (4 years, 155 days)
		Michiel van Nispen (born 1982)	Fourth Deputy Speaker	SP		2 April 2014 (7 years, 145 days)
		Henk Nijboer (born 1983)	Fifth Deputy Speaker	PvdA		20 September 2012 (8 years, 339 days)
		Tom van der Lee (born 1964)	Sixth Deputy Speaker	GL		23 March 2017 (4 years, 155 days)
		Wybren van Haga (born 1967)	Seventh Deputy Speaker	Indep.		31 October 2017 (3 years, 298 days)
		Frank Wassenberg (born 1966)	Eighth Deputy Speaker	PvdD		17 November 2015 (5 years, 281 days)
		Paul van Meenen (born 1956)	Ninth Deputy Speaker	D66		20 September 2012 (8 years, 339 days)

Parliamentary Committees[]

Parliamentary Committee	Ministry	Jurisdiction	Current Chair
Parliamentary committee for the Interior	Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations	Domestic policy • Civil service • Public administration • Local Government Affairs • Provincial Government Affairs • Elections	Erik Ziengs (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Foreign Affairs	Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Foreign relations • Foreign policy • Benelux Union • NATO • Diaspora	Pia Dijkstra (D66)
Parliamentary committee for Finance	Ministry of Finance	Economic policy • Monetary policy • Fiscal policy • Tax policy • Financial market • Government budget	Judith Tielen (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Justice and Security	Ministry of Justice and Security	Justice system • Law enforcement • Public security • Emergency management • Immigration policy	Paul van Meenen (D66)
Parliamentary committee for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy	Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy	Commercial policy • Industrial policy • Energy policy • Environmental policy • Technology policy • Space policy • Tourism	Isabelle Diks (GL)
Parliamentary committee for Defence	Ministry of Defence	Armed forces • Military policy • Veterans Affairs • Military police • Defence diplomacy • Humanitarian aid	Aukje de Vries (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Health, Welfare and Sport	Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport	Health care • Health policy • Health insurance • Pharmaceutical policy • Vaccination policy • Welfare • Biomedical sciences • Sport	Helma Lodders (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Social Affairs and Employment	Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment	Social policy • Employment • Labour economics • Occupational safety and health • Social security • Consumer protection • Trades unions • Emancipation	Michel Rog (CDA)
Parliamentary committee for Education, Culture and Science	Ministry of Education, Culture and Science	Education policy • Cultural policy • Science policy • Knowledge policy • Research • Art • Gender equality • Communication • Media	Ockje Tellegen (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Infrastructure and Water Management	Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management	Transport • Water Management • Aviation • Housing policy • Public works • Spatial planning • Land management	Agnes Mulder (CDA)
Parliamentary committee for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality	Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality	Agricultural policy • Food policy • Food safety • Fisheries • Natural resource • Natural conservation • Forestry • Animal welfare	Attje Kuiken (PvdA)
Select Parliamentary Committee	Ministry	Jurisdiction	Current Chair
Parliamentary committee for Kingdom Relations	Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations	Kingdom Relations	Jan Paternotte (D66)
Parliamentary committee for European Affairs	Ministry of Foreign Affairs	European Union	Hayke Veldman (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation	Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Investment policy • International trade • Export promotion • Development Cooperation • Foreign Disaster relief • International Environmental policies	Raymond de Roon (PVV)
Parliamentary committee for Building Supervision	Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management	Illegal construction • Construction Fraud	Ockje Tellegen (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Petitions and the Citizen Initiatives		Referendums • Initiatives	Sven Koopmans (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Intelligence and Security		Intelligence • Security • National security • Computer security	Klaas Dijkhoff (VVD)
Presidium of the House of Representatives		House of Representatives Administration	Khadija Arib (PvdA)
Special Parliamentary Committee	Ministry	Jurisdiction	Current Chair
Special Parliamentary committee for Digital Future		Digital Infrastructure • Internet access • Wi-Fi • Digital rights	Kathalijne Buitenweg (GL)
Special Parliamentary committee for Investigation of Unwanted Influence from Foreign Entities		Foreign electoral intervention • Foreign donations policy	Michel Rog (CDA)

In the media[]

Plenary sessions of the house are broadcast via a live audio-only transmission called the Tweede Kamerlijn, available on the internet and through most Dutch cable operators. The service also broadcasts important committee meetings if there is no plenary at the time.

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to House of Representatives of the Netherlands (Tweede Kamer).

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

Coordinates: 52°4′47″N 4°18′53″E / 52.07972°N 4.31472°E / 52.07972; 4.31472