Dutch general election, 2006
Encyclopedia
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands
was held in the Netherlands on November 22, 2006. And followed the call for new elections after the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet
.
There are a total of 150 seats (zetels) in the House of Representatives, the lower house
of the Dutch parliament. The elections proved relatively successful for the governing
Christian Democratic Appeal
(CDA) which remained the largest party with 41 seats, a loss of only three seats. The largest increase in seats was for the Socialist Party
(SP), which went from nine to 25 seats. The main opposition party, the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) lost nine of its 42 seats, while the right-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
(VVD) and the progressive liberal Democrats 66 lost a considerable portion of their seats, six of 28 and three of six, respectively. New parties, such as the right-wing Party for Freedom
(PVV) of former VVD MP Geert Wilders
and the animal rights party Party for the Animals
(PvdD) were also successful, with the PVV winning nine seats and the PvdD winning two, thereby becoming the first animal rights
group to enter a European parliament.
For the breakdown of seats in House of Representatives since the 2006 General Elections, please refer to the List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands (2006-2010)
The formation talks led to the installation of the Christian-social fourth Balkenende cabinet, composed of CDA, PvdA and ChristianUnion on 22 February 2007.
– which consisted of the Christian-democratic CDA
, the conservative liberal VVD
and the progressive liberal D66 – as well as the composition of the new government and the future of the Dutch economy
. Other issues were integration and the environment.
. The largest party will have the initiative in the cabinet formation talks. Furthermore, if it becomes part of the cabinet, the largest party supplies the prime minister
. The media have framed the elections as a 'Clash of the Titans' between prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende
(CDA) and candidate prime minister Wouter Bos
(PvdA).
Both parties had consciously kept their options open and expressed a preference for the composition of a new cabinet. The other parties did express clear preferences: the VVD wanted to continue to govern with the CDA, while the Socialist Party
and the GreenLeft
(GL) wanted to form a leftist coalition, the so-called Left-wing Spring. Broadly speaking, it appeared that there were three options: a continuation of the third Balkendende cabinet with CDA and VVD, a left-wing coalition of PvdA, SP and GL or a centre-left coalition of PvdA and CDA.
In 2004 and 2005, the polls indeed indicated that the united left could gain a majority in the House of Representatives. The polls predicted two head-to-head races. One between the PvdA and ruling CDA and another between the left-wing bloc (PvdA, SP, GreenLeft) and the right-wing bloc (CDA, VVD) with neither gaining a majority. Early November polls however showed that the CDA was gaining on and surpassing the PvdA. Mid-November polls indicated that the PvdA was bleeding votes to the SP while the CDA remained more or less stable. The left- and right-wing blocks remained in an equilibrium with neither side gaining enough votes for an overall majority. Small centrist parties such as the ChristianUnion
could play a decisive role.
The day before the elections, about one third of the electorate had not yet made up their minds, resulting in polls giving strongly varying indications. For this reason campaigning continued on election day itself. An aspect of this was tactical voting, with SP telling PvdA voters that a strong SP would force PvdA to form a left-wing coalition, VVD saying something similar to CDA voters concerning a right-wing coalition, PvdA and CDA saying they needed to be strong to prevent the other party from forming or dominating a coalition and ChristianUnion saying it has the best cards to participate in any coalition. Shortly before the elections, PvdA leader Bos showed himself more interested in the much talked about left-wing coalition of PvdA, SP and GroenLinks (possibly with ChristenUnie), which he had refused to talk about for months.
.
In the last four years the three Balkenende cabinets had implemented an ambitious program of social-economic reforms, including tax cuts, reforms to the social welfare system and investments in education. Their aim was to jump start the Dutch economy. Initially there was great public dissatisfaction with this policy, with large demonstrations in 2003, 2004 and 2005 by the main labour union FNV
and the three main opposition parties. They criticised the government for taking these measures at the wrong point in time, during a recession, and they claimed that the government made the poor and socially weaker pay for the economic recovery. A major focus of this debate was on the fact that more than 10% of the people were said to live in poverty, as exemplified by the rising number of 'voedselbanken' (give-away shop
s for food). As the economy began to perform better in 2006 the public dissatisfaction decreased.
There were roughly three positions on the future of the Dutch economy. The CDA claimed that the reforms were finished and that the following cabinet would not have to take any serious measures. The VVD wanted to continue reforming to increase the performance of the Dutch economy. They wanted to continue to cut taxes and reduce bureaucracy. The opposition parties PvdA, SP, GL, joined by the ChristianUnion
wanted to revert some of the measures and pay more attention to the public sector
, especially to the health care-sector and the poor. The PvdA and the GreenLeft however also announced that they wanted to reform part of the economy and welfare system. For instance several months before the elections, Wouter Bos, the leader of Labour Party, announced that he wanted to tax the elderly pension in such a way that rich elderly would pay more taxes on their pensions than poor elderly. The Dutch pension system consists of government supplied (AOW) and mandatory self-saved pensions. It is the latter portion Bos wanted to tax progressively
. The proposal led to considerable controversy, both outside and within Bos' own party. Former minister and de Volkskrant
columnist Marcel van Dam
wrote a critical column on 22 June concerning Bos' proposal. The second man of the Christian Democratic Appeal
Maxime Verhagen
used soundbites from the proposal continually to emphasise that the PvdA was an unreliable partner for the elderly. Bos later moderated his plans: only new cases would pay taxes over their pension.
The focus was on the policy of Rita Verdonk
, minister of immigration and integration, who had reduced the influx of immigrants and implemented mandatory integration courses for migrants.
Verdonk's attitudes toward immigrants were again in the spotlight after her treatment of the crisis around the naturalisation of Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali
caused the cabinet to fall.
In the debates one issue was especially important: the treatment of 26,000 asylum seekers which had been in legal procedures for over five years. The left-wing opposition parties PvdA, SP, GL and CU, joined by former coalition-partner D66 wanted a general pardon for this group, granting them all a residence permit. The CDA, VVD and the smaller right-wing parties of Geert Wilders
and Marco Pastors
opposed such a permit because it would attract illegal immigrants. Minister Verdonk claimed that she had actually already taken care of these 26,000 asylum seekers, sending many back to their own country and granting many a residence permit.
A minor issue was the ban on burqa
s and other face-covering clothing in public which minister Verdonk announced on 17 November 2006. The opposition Labour Party, called the law an "election ploy", and a Muslim leader described it as "a big law for a small problem."
Several right-wing parties, such as One NL and Party for Freedom
, had campaigned extensively on the issue of immigration and integration. Wilders of the Party for Freedom wanted a halt of immigration from non-Western countries, abolish double citizenship, and stop the building of new mosques. Wilders said that the "Islamisation of the Netherlands" is a "tsunami" that needed to be stopped, "because it threatens our culture."
The first attention to environmental issues was attracted by Greenpeace
who interfered in the CDA party congress on 30 September 2006. During a speech of parliamentary chairman Maxime Verhagen
, activists of Greenpeace
rolled down a large sign saying "CDA chooses for 240,000 years of nuclear waste," referring to the news a day earlier that the CDA junior minister of the environment Pieter van Geel
is open to new possibilities for nuclear energy in the Netherlands. Four activists were apprehended by the police afterwards.
Other important events increasing the attention on environmental issues were the Stern report of the United Kingdom government and the visit of Al Gore
to Amsterdam promoting his movie An Inconvenient Truth
.
The GreenLeft focused on this issue during its campaigns and sponsored ads which read: "Who votes strategically when the polar caps are melting?" The Party for the Animals
had campaigned on one issue closely related to environmental problems: the position of animals in Dutch society and especially in agriculture.
beat the more conservative minister without portfolio
for immigration and integration Rita Verdonk
. In the internal election of the progressive liberal D66 the more radical democratic minister without portfolio for government reform Alexander Pechtold
beat the more social-liberal chair of the parliamentary party Lousewies van der Laan
.
, offered the resignation of the cabinet on 30 June 2006 after one of the coalition partners, D66
, withdrew their support from the cabinet the day before over Rita Verdonk
's treatment of the Ayaan Hirsi Ali
case. A new cabinet
continued for five months as a care taker cabinet until the elections. The opposition had pressed for speedy elections because they were on a winning streak. The late date for the elections probably worked to the advantage of the CDA because in those five months the economy improved and in the past the biggest coalition partner had always come out as the biggest party if the economy blooms. A major issue in the campaigns was whether this improving economy was because of or in spite of the right-wing government.
's Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) or the liberal VVD. In the period before the elections the small right was characterized by a chaos of secessions, new formations and party switches. Former Rotterdam alderman Marco Pastors
and member of parliament for the LPF Joost Eerdmans
formed Eén NL
. Party for the Netherlands
was led by former LPF minister Hilbrand Nawijn
, while Wilders recruited people for his new Party for Freedom
, which would take part in the 2006 elections. Nawijn and Wilders became independent
in parliament at that time, while Eerdmans has formed the "Group Eerdmans-Van Schijndel" along with former VVD MP Anton van Schijndel. Two other LPF politicians have formed one man fractions but they have not formed their own party: Gerard van As
, former leader of the LPF, and Gonny van Oudenallen
, also former LPF. Margot Kraneveldt left the LPF, returned her seat to the party and joined the social-democratic PvdA. Meanwhile the LPF announced that it would also run the next elections, under the name "Fortuyn". The party is led by Olaf Stuger
, who served as member of parliament in the period 2002–2003 and returned to parliament in 2006, to replace Gerard van As.
announced he would retire, as did his vice-chair Bibi de Vries
, Frans Weisglas
the current speaker of parliament, and ministers Hans Hoogervorst
, Sybilla Dekker
, state secretary Melanie Schultz van Haegen
and Henk van Hoof
. Within the CDA, ministers Cees Veerman
and Karla Peijs
announced they would not return, as did state secretary Clemence Ross. Both D66's current chairperson Lousewies van der Laan
and her predecessor Boris Dittrich also announced they would not return.
, was removed by his party, because he would not hold to the party stance that the Armenian Genocide
was caused by the Young Turks
. That same evening, the CDA announced that two of their candidates, Ayhan Tonca and Osman Elmaci, have been removed as well, because of the same issue. Both parties agreed that all their members should openly conform to the party's point of view on this sensitive human rights issue. The sensitivity over these issues was underlined when the speaker of the Turkish parliament
, Bülent Arınç
, in response threatened the Netherlands with diplomatic action over this incident. Namik Tan
, spokesperson for the Turkish Department of Foreign Affairs said that "we are deeply worried about the one-sided approach of our ally Netherlands’ political parties on the so-called Armenian genocide as this puts a limit on the freedom of expression." Labour Party leader Wouter Bos
later said that the term genocide
is used too easily, and that he rather speak of the "Armenian Question
."
newspaper published a story just a week before the election saying that Dutch soldiers "tortured" Iraqi prisoners in Iraq, back in 2003. Defense minister Henk Kamp
ordered an immediate (re-)investigation into the matter, but said that earlier information about this case did not result in the military police and Dutch public prosecutors to start a criminal investigation. Left-wing parties, such as the Labour Party
(PvdA), which demanded an immediate parliamentary investigation were later rebuked by military commander Dick Berlijn
, who stated that the left-wing opposition tarnished the reputation of the Dutch Department of Defense by their incriminating language, while nothing happened in Iraq. Mark Rutte, leader of the VVD, even went as far as to say that this Iraq story was a manipulation in order to influence the elections.
In an open letter to De Volkskrant on the day of the Dutch elections, defense minister Kamp said the news about possible mistreatment was deceptive, and that the editor of De Volkskrant should feel being misused by the sources for this story. The Department of Defense in the mean time is demanding a rectification of the story published by De Volkskrant.
A Dutch magazine, Elsevier
, later (January 2007) reported that the no.5 candidate of the Labour Party (PvdA), Ton Heerts, "advised" the Volkskrant on how to report on the story.
Kieskompas (Electoral Compass
) was launched by the newspaper Trouw
in cooperation with the VU University Amsterdam
in order to compete with the Stemwijzer. This system was supposed to give considerably more information. Here voters could show their support for thirty six propositions on a five-point scale. Next they show whether they thought the current cabinet had performed well. Finally Kieskompas showed users their attitude towards party leaders as competent and trustworthy. The voters were shown a two-axis system (similar to a Nolan Chart
) and their own position as well as the position of each party in this chart. It stated which party was the closest to them and which party the farthest. It also gave them the possibility to see which coalition best matched their political preferences.
Other voting tools where the "Wie Kies Jij?" (the "Who do You Vote for") of the IPP which helped find the perfect candidate by his/her age, sex, dietary habits and political experience and the Stomwijzer (the "Stupid Pointer") which mocked the StemWijzer, but still gave reasonable voting advice
performed an 'election show' ('verkiezingsconference') on public television on the night before the elections. It was called "De Stemming 2006" (an ambiguous name which means both "The Vote 2006" and "The Mood 2006") In his ironic comedy show, which was totally focused on the elections, he ridiculed the candidates, making such a show a uniquely Dutch phenomenon. When asked whether this show would influence the upcoming elections de Jonge stated he would make a fool out of everyone, not favoring a single person. This was the second time he did such a show. The first one was in 2003, when it was the thirty-third best watched TV-programme in the Netherlands that year. This year, the show was watched by 2,016,000 viewers.
A report by action group Wij vertrouwen stemcomputers niet (We don't trust voting computers) detailed serious security flaws in the Nedap
voting machine
s used by 90% of the voters in the election. The report alleged it was easy to open the voting machine casing. The inner casing around the electronics was only protected by a very simple lock. Thus replacements of software and even hardware were relatively easily possible (by a simple memory chip swap, meaning that the memory that holds the voting data is not encrypted). Another machine is made by SDU and called "NewVote". It is based on a PC and uses a touchscreen instead of buttons. Only ten small districts still use paper and pencil.
Wij vertrouwen stemcomputers niet has threatened to bring minister Atzo Nicolaï
to court since they are not convinced by his assurances that there will be no fraud in the upcoming election. In response to the allegations, Nicolaï introduced new security measures for the voting machines. Currently Nedap is checking all its machines for tampering, is installing new chips and software that is less easily hacked, and seals the machines with a unique metal seal.
Based on inspections, on 30 October the government decided that there was a problem with SDU voting machines because within a radius of 10 metres the machines could be wirelessly monitored, so that these machines could not guarantee anonymity of voting to a sufficient degree. These machines, which are in use in 35 municipalities, including Amsterdam
, have to be improved or replaced with an alternative before the elections. Many municipalities, including Amsterdam
, decided to switch to the traditional pen and red pencil method of voting instead of the SDU machines. Machines made by Nedap
are still in use.
"Stemmen in een Willekeurig Stemlokaal" (SWS) ('voting in a random polling-booth')
Because a lot of people could not vote because of problems caused by this experiment a group of citizens started procedures to nullify the results in all 311 area's where the experiment was conducted.
Another experiment is "Kiezen Op Afstand" (KOA) ('remote voting'), also called the experiment with internetstemmen (internet voting).
In an experiment in Breukelen
, a voting machine was placed in a petrol station. However, non-Breukelen citizens had to convert their 'voting pass' ('stempas') to an 'elector's pass' ('kiezerspas').
, whose VVD is junior partner in the third Balkenende cabinet
of CDA prime-minister Jan Peter Balkenende
, was worried that the CDA will choose for a coalition with the PvdA after the elections, as this, at the time of the debate, was the only two-party coalition possible according to polls. Balkenende, however, kept his options open, and did not rule out a coalition with the PvdA. The PvdA's Wouter Bos stated that he will not become a deputy prime-minister in case Balkenende leads a CDA-PvdA coalition. He will then remain as chairman of the parliamentary party.
and Wouter Bos
. Balkenende focused on his achievements the last four years, stating "We are much better off than four years ago. We were behind in Europe and now we’re ahead but our work is not yet done." Bos felt that under Balkenende the gap between rich and poor had grown, stating "What have you asked of the wealthiest? Everybody has been asked to dig into their pockets to contribute to the economy." In an opinion poll conducted by TNS-Nipo following the televised debate, 50 percent of respondents thought Wouter Bos won the debate, against 46 percent for Jan Peter Balkenende.
(YouthNews) of the NOS
. The debate was aimed at children from 8 to 14 years of age. Participants were top-candidates from the four parties leading the polls: Jan Peter Balkenende (CDA), Wouter Bos (PvdA), Mark Rutte (VVD) and Jan Marijnissen (SP). A poll among the young watchers after the debate showed that the Dutch children preferred Wouter Bos as the next prime minister (46%), before Marijnissen (26%), Balkenende (22%) and Mark Rutte (6%).
. Participants were Jan-Peter Balkenende, Wouter Bos, Mark Rutte, Jan Marijnissen , Femke Halsema and André Rouvoet. According to an opinion poll following the debate, Jan Marijnissen won the debate.
Due to this low rate of registration, votes of the Dutch living abroad had a negligible effect on the outcome of the elections.
The Netherlands use a D'Hondt method
to allocate remainder seats. In order to get more of these seats two combined lists were formed. In the distribution of these seats the Socialist Party and the GreenLeft formed one block, as did the ChristianUnion
and the SGP. The GreenLeft-SP alliance got one rest seat, the CDA got two, the PvdA got two, D66 got one and the PVV also got one. This means that these parties are slightly overrepresented in parliament.
With the Dutch system of open list proportional representation
, voters may indicate their preference for a particular candidate on a party's list. Usually the vast majority of people vote for the top candidate
, however this is not always the case.
In this election the number two candidate on the VVD list, Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk
received a greater number of preference votes (620,555) than the party's lijsttrekker
Mark Rutte
(553,200). This was attributed to her greater national profile.
Also, the number six candidate on the D66
list, Fatma Koşer Kaya
received the second highest number of D66 preferences (34,564), second only to lijsttrekker
Alexander Pechtold
(95,937).
This resulted from the CDA
and PvdA removing candidates of Turkish origin from their lists because of their position on the Armenian Genocide
of 1915–17. As a result the influential Turks Forum advised voters of Turkish origin to vote for Koser Kaya, who is of Turkish origin, although her position on the genocide is ambiguous.
Any candidate reaching the quota (16,397 votes in this election) is elected, taking preference over other candidates on the list. This means Koser Kaya is elected, despite being at number six on the list. D66 will receive only three seats, according to its share of the national vote.
The last polls prior to the election of the Politieke Barometer,http://www.politiekebarometer.nl the poll by NOVA and Interview-NSS, the TNS-NIPO polls by RTL4,http://www.rtl.nl/actueel/rtlnieuws/verkiezingen2006.xml and the poll by Maurice de Honds' peil.nlhttps://n34.noties.nl/peil.nl/ yield the following results:
The day before the elections, about one third of the electorate had not yet made up their minds, resulting in polls giving strongly varying results. For this reason campaigning continued on election day itself. An aspect of this was tactical voting, with SP telling PvdA voters that a strong SP would force PvdA to form a left-wing coalition, VVD saying something similar to CDA voters concerning a right-wing coalition, PvdA and CDA saying they need to be strong to prevent the other party from forming or dominating a coalition and ChristenUnie saying it has the best cards to participate in any coalition. Shortly before the elections, PvdA leader Bos showed himself more interested in the much talked about left-wing coalition of PvdA, SP and GroenLinks (possibly with ChristenUnie), which he had refused to talk about for months. Many suspected he changed his mind to stop the exodus of PvdA voters to SP. During the municipal elections earlier that year PvdA grew strong and after that they even grew to 60 seats in the polls, but after March a gradual decline had set in, almost halving the size of PvdA in the polls.
Initially, negotiations for a cabinet of CDA, PvdA and SP were started, but the parties seemed unwilling to form this cabinet. Later on, negotiations for a CDA-PvdA-ChristenUnie cabinet were started. This resulted in the formation of the Fourth cabinet Balkenende. It was installed by Queen Beatrix
on 22 February 2007. In the meantime the Balkenende III cabinet continued as a caretaker cabinet, which is not supposed to make new policy.
," VVD leader Rutte responded fiercely, saying that "there is no cordon sanitaire." Rutte believes the PVV is a "one-issue party," but also pointed out that he did not exclude the PVV as coalition partner.
When asked about the possibility of a CDA-PvdA-CU coalition, PvdA leader Bos responded that during the campaign the differences between CDA and PvdA have turned out to be rather big and that the big winner SP also deserves a place at the negotiating table. SP leader Marijnissen responded to this that the SP had never excluded CDA as a coalition partner, but that the CDA of the previous cabinet is not one with which the SP can enter a coalition. That, combined with the program of the CDA and the list of CDA MPs would constitute many 'road bumps' and 'bears on the road', and said he did not really want to start a coalition with this CDA program and this CDA MP list. Prime minister Balkenende responded that the CDA he wanted does not exist and that he has to enter talks with the CDA as it is now.
Marco Pastors
' One NL was defeated by PVV
even in his home town Rotterdam
, where he had had a landslide victory at the 2002 municipal elections with his Leefbaar Rotterdam
. Pastors, who himself had compared the present situation in the Netherlands with pre-war Germany, said that Wilders is too extreme for his taste, such as when speaking of a 'Tsunami
of Islamisation'. He didn't want to follow him in this extremism. "I would have done myself injustice".
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
was held in the Netherlands on November 22, 2006. And followed the call for new elections after the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet
Second Balkenende cabinet
The second cabinet of Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands formed on 27 May 2003. It consisted of three political parties: People's Party for Freedom and Democracy , Christian Democratic Appeal , and Democrats 66 , which is the smallest of the three.On 29 June 2006, D66 dropped its support for...
.
There are a total of 150 seats (zetels) in the House of Representatives, the lower house
Lower house
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
of the Dutch parliament. The elections proved relatively successful for the governing
Third Balkenende cabinet
The third Balkenende cabinet was formed on 7 July 2006 after a crisis in and the subsequent resignation of the second Balkenende cabinet. This demissionary minority cabinet of Christian Democratic Appeal and People's Party for Freedom and Democracy was negotiated by former prime minister Ruud...
Christian Democratic Appeal
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
(CDA) which remained the largest party with 41 seats, a loss of only three seats. The largest increase in seats was for the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Netherlands)
The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...
(SP), which went from nine to 25 seats. The main opposition party, the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) lost nine of its 42 seats, while the right-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
(VVD) and the progressive liberal Democrats 66 lost a considerable portion of their seats, six of 28 and three of six, respectively. New parties, such as the right-wing Party for Freedom
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
(PVV) of former VVD MP Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders is a Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom , the third-largest political party in the Netherlands. He is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives...
and the animal rights party Party for the Animals
Party for the Animals
The Party for the Animals is a political party in the Netherlands.Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare, though it claims not to be a single-issue party...
(PvdD) were also successful, with the PVV winning nine seats and the PvdD winning two, thereby becoming the first animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
group to enter a European parliament.
For the breakdown of seats in House of Representatives since the 2006 General Elections, please refer to the List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands (2006-2010)
The formation talks led to the installation of the Christian-social fourth Balkenende cabinet, composed of CDA, PvdA and ChristianUnion on 22 February 2007.
Issues at stake
The main issue at stake during the elections was the economic performance of the centre-right Second Balkenende cabinetSecond Balkenende cabinet
The second cabinet of Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands formed on 27 May 2003. It consisted of three political parties: People's Party for Freedom and Democracy , Christian Democratic Appeal , and Democrats 66 , which is the smallest of the three.On 29 June 2006, D66 dropped its support for...
– which consisted of the Christian-democratic CDA
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
, the conservative liberal VVD
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
and the progressive liberal D66 – as well as the composition of the new government and the future of the Dutch economy
Economy of the Netherlands
On the Index of Economic Freedom, the Netherlands is the 13th most laissez-faire capitalist economy out of 157 surveyed countries. At the time of writing the Netherlands is the 16th largest economy of the world. Between 1998 and 2000 annual economic growth averaged nearly 4%, well above the...
. Other issues were integration and the environment.
Power question
The most important question of the elections was which party would become the largest, the governing Christian-democratic CDA or the main opposition party, the social-democratic PvdA. This was similar to the situation of the elections of 2003Dutch general election, 2003
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on January 22, 2003.-Background:...
. The largest party will have the initiative in the cabinet formation talks. Furthermore, if it becomes part of the cabinet, the largest party supplies the prime minister
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands is the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands. He is the de facto head of government of the Netherlands and coordinates the policy of the government...
. The media have framed the elections as a 'Clash of the Titans' between prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende is a Dutch politician of the party Christian Democratic Appeal .He was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010, having led four coalition governments, cabinets Balkenende I, II, III and IV, none of which served a full...
(CDA) and candidate prime minister Wouter Bos
Wouter Bos
Wouter Jacob Bos is a Dutch management consultant and former politician of the Labour Party . He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende IV from February 22, 2007 till February 23, 2010...
(PvdA).
Both parties had consciously kept their options open and expressed a preference for the composition of a new cabinet. The other parties did express clear preferences: the VVD wanted to continue to govern with the CDA, while the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Netherlands)
The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...
and the GreenLeft
GreenLeft
GreenLeft is a green political party operating in the Netherlands.GreenLeft was formed on 1 March 1989 as a merger of four left-wing political parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party...
(GL) wanted to form a leftist coalition, the so-called Left-wing Spring. Broadly speaking, it appeared that there were three options: a continuation of the third Balkendende cabinet with CDA and VVD, a left-wing coalition of PvdA, SP and GL or a centre-left coalition of PvdA and CDA.
In 2004 and 2005, the polls indeed indicated that the united left could gain a majority in the House of Representatives. The polls predicted two head-to-head races. One between the PvdA and ruling CDA and another between the left-wing bloc (PvdA, SP, GreenLeft) and the right-wing bloc (CDA, VVD) with neither gaining a majority. Early November polls however showed that the CDA was gaining on and surpassing the PvdA. Mid-November polls indicated that the PvdA was bleeding votes to the SP while the CDA remained more or less stable. The left- and right-wing blocks remained in an equilibrium with neither side gaining enough votes for an overall majority. Small centrist parties such as the ChristianUnion
ChristianUnion
The ChristianUnion , abbreviated to CU, is a Dutch Christian democratic political party. A centrist party, the CU's policies combine social conservatism and soft euroscepticism with more centre-left positions on economic, immigration, and environmental issues.Founded in 2000 as a merger of the...
could play a decisive role.
The day before the elections, about one third of the electorate had not yet made up their minds, resulting in polls giving strongly varying indications. For this reason campaigning continued on election day itself. An aspect of this was tactical voting, with SP telling PvdA voters that a strong SP would force PvdA to form a left-wing coalition, VVD saying something similar to CDA voters concerning a right-wing coalition, PvdA and CDA saying they needed to be strong to prevent the other party from forming or dominating a coalition and ChristianUnion saying it has the best cards to participate in any coalition. Shortly before the elections, PvdA leader Bos showed himself more interested in the much talked about left-wing coalition of PvdA, SP and GroenLinks (possibly with ChristenUnie), which he had refused to talk about for months.
Social-economic issues
The debates were dominated by social-economic questions and especially the performance of the Balkenende cabinetsThird Balkenende cabinet
The third Balkenende cabinet was formed on 7 July 2006 after a crisis in and the subsequent resignation of the second Balkenende cabinet. This demissionary minority cabinet of Christian Democratic Appeal and People's Party for Freedom and Democracy was negotiated by former prime minister Ruud...
.
In the last four years the three Balkenende cabinets had implemented an ambitious program of social-economic reforms, including tax cuts, reforms to the social welfare system and investments in education. Their aim was to jump start the Dutch economy. Initially there was great public dissatisfaction with this policy, with large demonstrations in 2003, 2004 and 2005 by the main labour union FNV
Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging
The Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging is a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands.-History:...
and the three main opposition parties. They criticised the government for taking these measures at the wrong point in time, during a recession, and they claimed that the government made the poor and socially weaker pay for the economic recovery. A major focus of this debate was on the fact that more than 10% of the people were said to live in poverty, as exemplified by the rising number of 'voedselbanken' (give-away shop
Give-away shop
Give-away shops, swap shops, freeshops, or free stores are stores where all goods are free. They are similar to charity shops, with mostly second-hand items — only everything is available at no cost...
s for food). As the economy began to perform better in 2006 the public dissatisfaction decreased.
There were roughly three positions on the future of the Dutch economy. The CDA claimed that the reforms were finished and that the following cabinet would not have to take any serious measures. The VVD wanted to continue reforming to increase the performance of the Dutch economy. They wanted to continue to cut taxes and reduce bureaucracy. The opposition parties PvdA, SP, GL, joined by the ChristianUnion
ChristianUnion
The ChristianUnion , abbreviated to CU, is a Dutch Christian democratic political party. A centrist party, the CU's policies combine social conservatism and soft euroscepticism with more centre-left positions on economic, immigration, and environmental issues.Founded in 2000 as a merger of the...
wanted to revert some of the measures and pay more attention to the public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
, especially to the health care-sector and the poor. The PvdA and the GreenLeft however also announced that they wanted to reform part of the economy and welfare system. For instance several months before the elections, Wouter Bos, the leader of Labour Party, announced that he wanted to tax the elderly pension in such a way that rich elderly would pay more taxes on their pensions than poor elderly. The Dutch pension system consists of government supplied (AOW) and mandatory self-saved pensions. It is the latter portion Bos wanted to tax progressively
Progressive tax
A progressive tax is a tax by which the tax rate increases as the taxable base amount increases. "Progressive" describes a distribution effect on income or expenditure, referring to the way the rate progresses from low to high, where the average tax rate is less than the marginal tax rate...
. The proposal led to considerable controversy, both outside and within Bos' own party. Former minister and de Volkskrant
De Volkskrant
de Volkskrant is a national daily Dutch morning newspaper, the leading centre-left broadsheet, although now in tabloid size.-History:...
columnist Marcel van Dam
Marcel van Dam
Marcel Parcival Arthur van Dam is a former Dutch politician and television presenter. As a member of the Labour Party he was Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment from 1981 to 1982....
wrote a critical column on 22 June concerning Bos' proposal. The second man of the Christian Democratic Appeal
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen is a Dutch politician in the Christian Democratic Appeal party. He is the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and Deputy Prime Minister since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte.He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament for...
used soundbites from the proposal continually to emphasise that the PvdA was an unreliable partner for the elderly. Bos later moderated his plans: only new cases would pay taxes over their pension.
Immigration and integration
Immigration and integration, which had dominated the 2002 and 2003 elections, were clearly less important during these elections.The focus was on the policy of Rita Verdonk
Rita Verdonk
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a retired Dutch politician initially of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy until she was expelled in October 2007, she later formed her own party Proud of the Netherlands . She served as Minister for Integration and Immigration in Cabinets...
, minister of immigration and integration, who had reduced the influx of immigrants and implemented mandatory integration courses for migrants.
Verdonk's attitudes toward immigrants were again in the spotlight after her treatment of the crisis around the naturalisation of Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
caused the cabinet to fall.
In the debates one issue was especially important: the treatment of 26,000 asylum seekers which had been in legal procedures for over five years. The left-wing opposition parties PvdA, SP, GL and CU, joined by former coalition-partner D66 wanted a general pardon for this group, granting them all a residence permit. The CDA, VVD and the smaller right-wing parties of Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders is a Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom , the third-largest political party in the Netherlands. He is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives...
and Marco Pastors
Marco Pastors
Marco Pastors is a Dutch politician. He is currently political leader of the local party Leefbaar Rotterdam, a member of the city council for Rotterdam and the political leader of Een NL, a Dutch political party at the national level...
opposed such a permit because it would attract illegal immigrants. Minister Verdonk claimed that she had actually already taken care of these 26,000 asylum seekers, sending many back to their own country and granting many a residence permit.
A minor issue was the ban on burqa
Burqa
A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. The burqa is usually understood to be the woman's loose body-covering , plus the head-covering , plus the face-veil .-Etymology:A speculative and unattested etymology...
s and other face-covering clothing in public which minister Verdonk announced on 17 November 2006. The opposition Labour Party, called the law an "election ploy", and a Muslim leader described it as "a big law for a small problem."
Several right-wing parties, such as One NL and Party for Freedom
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
, had campaigned extensively on the issue of immigration and integration. Wilders of the Party for Freedom wanted a halt of immigration from non-Western countries, abolish double citizenship, and stop the building of new mosques. Wilders said that the "Islamisation of the Netherlands" is a "tsunami" that needed to be stopped, "because it threatens our culture."
The environment
The environment finally also became a secondary issue during the elections.The first attention to environmental issues was attracted by Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
who interfered in the CDA party congress on 30 September 2006. During a speech of parliamentary chairman Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen is a Dutch politician in the Christian Democratic Appeal party. He is the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and Deputy Prime Minister since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte.He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament for...
, activists of Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
rolled down a large sign saying "CDA chooses for 240,000 years of nuclear waste," referring to the news a day earlier that the CDA junior minister of the environment Pieter van Geel
Pieter van Geel
Petrus Leonardus Bastiaan Antonius van Geel is a Dutch politician for the CDA.He was State Secretary of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment from 2002 until 2007 and a member of the House of Representatives in 2002, 2003 and from 2006 till 2010.- External links : , Parlement & Politiek...
is open to new possibilities for nuclear energy in the Netherlands. Four activists were apprehended by the police afterwards.
Other important events increasing the attention on environmental issues were the Stern report of the United Kingdom government and the visit of Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
to Amsterdam promoting his movie An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.Premiering at the...
.
The GreenLeft focused on this issue during its campaigns and sponsored ads which read: "Who votes strategically when the polar caps are melting?" The Party for the Animals
Party for the Animals
The Party for the Animals is a political party in the Netherlands.Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare, though it claims not to be a single-issue party...
had campaigned on one issue closely related to environmental problems: the position of animals in Dutch society and especially in agriculture.
Internal elections
In the month before the fall of the cabinet two parties held internal elections on who would lead their parties in the next elections, which were scheduled for 2007. In the internal election of the conservative liberal VVD the more liberal secretary of state for science and higher education Mark RutteMark Rutte
Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician who has been Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 14 October 2010, as well as Minister of General Affairs in the Rutte cabinet...
beat the more conservative minister without portfolio
Minister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
for immigration and integration Rita Verdonk
Rita Verdonk
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a retired Dutch politician initially of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy until she was expelled in October 2007, she later formed her own party Proud of the Netherlands . She served as Minister for Integration and Immigration in Cabinets...
. In the internal election of the progressive liberal D66 the more radical democratic minister without portfolio for government reform Alexander Pechtold
Alexander Pechtold
Alexander Pechtold is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 party. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 30 November 2006 as well as Parliamentary group leader since 23 November 2006...
beat the more social-liberal chair of the parliamentary party Lousewies van der Laan
Lousewies van der Laan
Louse Wies Sija Anne Lilly Berthe van der Laan is a former Dutch politician and the leader of the parliamentary group of the social liberal Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives for six months in 2006...
.
Fall of the Cabinet
The next Dutch general election was originally scheduled for 15 May 2007 as the parliament was to be dissolved on 2 April 2007. However, it was announced that elections would be held on 22 November 2006,http://english.people.com.cn/200607/05/eng20060705_280064.html as Prime Minister, Jan Peter BalkenendeJan Peter Balkenende
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende is a Dutch politician of the party Christian Democratic Appeal .He was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010, having led four coalition governments, cabinets Balkenende I, II, III and IV, none of which served a full...
, offered the resignation of the cabinet on 30 June 2006 after one of the coalition partners, D66
Democrats 66
Democrats 66 is a progressive and social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned, young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system; it proposed to create an...
, withdrew their support from the cabinet the day before over Rita Verdonk
Rita Verdonk
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a retired Dutch politician initially of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy until she was expelled in October 2007, she later formed her own party Proud of the Netherlands . She served as Minister for Integration and Immigration in Cabinets...
's treatment of the Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
case. A new cabinet
Third Balkenende cabinet
The third Balkenende cabinet was formed on 7 July 2006 after a crisis in and the subsequent resignation of the second Balkenende cabinet. This demissionary minority cabinet of Christian Democratic Appeal and People's Party for Freedom and Democracy was negotiated by former prime minister Ruud...
continued for five months as a care taker cabinet until the elections. The opposition had pressed for speedy elections because they were on a winning streak. The late date for the elections probably worked to the advantage of the CDA because in those five months the economy improved and in the past the biggest coalition partner had always come out as the biggest party if the economy blooms. A major issue in the campaigns was whether this improving economy was because of or in spite of the right-wing government.
Splintered Fortuynists
After the fall of the cabinet several new small right-wing parties announced that they would run. Most of these parties either came out of the remains of Pim FortuynPim Fortuyn
Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List ....
's Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) or the liberal VVD. In the period before the elections the small right was characterized by a chaos of secessions, new formations and party switches. Former Rotterdam alderman Marco Pastors
Marco Pastors
Marco Pastors is a Dutch politician. He is currently political leader of the local party Leefbaar Rotterdam, a member of the city council for Rotterdam and the political leader of Een NL, a Dutch political party at the national level...
and member of parliament for the LPF Joost Eerdmans
Joost Eerdmans
Bernard Johannes Eerdmans is a politician in the Netherlands, and member of the Eén NL party.-Personal life:Eerdmans studied Management Science at the Erasmus Universiteit in Rotterdam...
formed Eén NL
Eén NL
Eén NL is a Dutch political party founded in September 2006. It took part in the 2006 Dutch election under the leadership of Marco Pastors and Joost Eerdmans, but a dismal election result leaves the political future of the party quite uncertain...
. Party for the Netherlands
Party for the Netherlands
Party for the Netherlands is a Dutch right-wing Fortuynist political party founded in August 2006 by Hilbrand Nawijn, a member of the Dutch House of Representatives....
was led by former LPF minister Hilbrand Nawijn
Hilbrand Nawijn
Hilbrand Pier Anne Nawijn is a Dutch politician of the Party for the Netherlands . He was Minister for Integration & Immigration from July 22, 2002 until May 27, 2003 and later a Member of the House of Representatives for the Pim Fortuyn List .Nawijn was born in Kampen...
, while Wilders recruited people for his new Party for Freedom
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
, which would take part in the 2006 elections. Nawijn and Wilders became independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
in parliament at that time, while Eerdmans has formed the "Group Eerdmans-Van Schijndel" along with former VVD MP Anton van Schijndel. Two other LPF politicians have formed one man fractions but they have not formed their own party: Gerard van As
Gerard van As
Gerard Pieter van As is a Dutch politician. From 2002 to 2006 he was a member of Pim Fortuyn List in the Dutch House of Representatives. He also served as parliamentary chairman of the LPF from 2004 to 2006 On 16 August 2006, he abandoned the LPF after a conflict with the party's leadership and...
, former leader of the LPF, and Gonny van Oudenallen
Gonny van Oudenallen
Hillegonda Maria Francisca van Oudenallen, born Hillegonda Maria Francisca Koster is Creative Director of Studio Dreams Come True, she has been in this role since 1987. She was formerly a Dutch politician, from April 1998 until March 2006 she was Councillor of the city of Amsterdam for the...
, also former LPF. Margot Kraneveldt left the LPF, returned her seat to the party and joined the social-democratic PvdA. Meanwhile the LPF announced that it would also run the next elections, under the name "Fortuyn". The party is led by Olaf Stuger
Olaf Stuger
Olaf Frederik Stuger is a Dutch businessman and former politician, sales manager, management consultant and civil servant....
, who served as member of parliament in the period 2002–2003 and returned to parliament in 2006, to replace Gerard van As.
Exodus of prominent politicians
Several prominent politicians announced they would step down before the elections. Some commentators spoke of a large exodus. Within the liberal VVD former chair of the parliamentary party Jozias van AartsenJozias van Aartsen
Jozias Johannes van Aartsen is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He is the Mayor of the Hague since March 27, 2008....
announced he would retire, as did his vice-chair Bibi de Vries
Bibi de Vries
Bibi de Vries was a member of the Dutch liberal VVD parliamentary party in the House of Representatives. She was a member of Parliament from 1994–2006....
, Frans Weisglas
Frans Weisglas
Frans Willy Weisglas is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He served as President of the House of Representatives from May 16, 2002 until November 30, 2006. He was the first elected president...
the current speaker of parliament, and ministers Hans Hoogervorst
Hans Hoogervorst
Hans Hoogervorst is a Dutch political and business figure. He is chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board.-Career:...
, Sybilla Dekker
Sybilla Dekker
Sybilla Dekker is a Dutch politician.-References:...
, state secretary Melanie Schultz van Haegen
Melanie Schultz van Haegen
Melanie Henriëtte Schultz van Haegen-Maas Geesteranus is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . She was State Secretary for Transport, Public Works and Water Management. She is the Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment in the Rutte cabinet.-References:...
and Henk van Hoof
Henk van Hoof
Hendrikus Andreas Lambertus "Henk" van Hoof is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He was the State Secretary for Defence in the Cabinet Kok II serving from August 3, 1998 until July 22, 2002...
. Within the CDA, ministers Cees Veerman
Cees Veerman
Cornelis Pieter Veerman is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal. He served as Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality from July 22, 2002 until February 22, 2007.-Early life:...
and Karla Peijs
Karla Peijs
Karla Maria Henriëtte Peijs is a Dutch politician of the CDA. She was minister of Transport and Waterworks in the second and third Balkenende cabinet. In August 2006 she announced she would not be accepting a position in a new cabinet. On 1 March 2007 she was appointed Queen's Commissioner for the...
announced they would not return, as did state secretary Clemence Ross. Both D66's current chairperson Lousewies van der Laan
Lousewies van der Laan
Louse Wies Sija Anne Lilly Berthe van der Laan is a former Dutch politician and the leader of the parliamentary group of the social liberal Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives for six months in 2006...
and her predecessor Boris Dittrich also announced they would not return.
Turkish-Dutch candidates and the Armenian Genocide
On 26 September 2006, a candidate for the Labour Party, Erdinç SaçanErdinç Saçan
Erdinç Saçan is an internet entrepreneur, website administrator, columnist and politician for the PvdA. After studying management and data processing at the Fontys college, he established his eponymous company Saçan Consultancy. At the same time, he founded several websites dealing with politics...
, was removed by his party, because he would not hold to the party stance that the Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
was caused by the Young Turks
Young Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
. That same evening, the CDA announced that two of their candidates, Ayhan Tonca and Osman Elmaci, have been removed as well, because of the same issue. Both parties agreed that all their members should openly conform to the party's point of view on this sensitive human rights issue. The sensitivity over these issues was underlined when the speaker of the Turkish parliament
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
, Bülent Arınç
Bülent Arinç
Bülent Arınç , is a Turkish politician. He served as the 22nd house speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2002 to 2007. He is one of the State Ministers of Turkey and Vice-Prime Minister today.-Life and education:...
, in response threatened the Netherlands with diplomatic action over this incident. Namik Tan
Namık Tan
Namık Tan is the current ambassador of Turkey to the United States. He has been holding that office since February 2010. He was a former ambassador of Turkey to Israel between 2007 and 2009.- See also :...
, spokesperson for the Turkish Department of Foreign Affairs said that "we are deeply worried about the one-sided approach of our ally Netherlands’ political parties on the so-called Armenian genocide as this puts a limit on the freedom of expression." Labour Party leader Wouter Bos
Wouter Bos
Wouter Jacob Bos is a Dutch management consultant and former politician of the Labour Party . He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende IV from February 22, 2007 till February 23, 2010...
later said that the term genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
is used too easily, and that he rather speak of the "Armenian Question
Armenian Question
The term "Armenian Question" as used in European history, became common place among diplomatic circles and in the popular press after the Congress of Berlin; that in like Eastern Question, refers to powers of Europe's involvement to the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire beginning with the...
."
News of possible mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners in 2003
De VolkskrantDe Volkskrant
de Volkskrant is a national daily Dutch morning newspaper, the leading centre-left broadsheet, although now in tabloid size.-History:...
newspaper published a story just a week before the election saying that Dutch soldiers "tortured" Iraqi prisoners in Iraq, back in 2003. Defense minister Henk Kamp
Henk Kamp
Henricus Gregorius Jozeph "Henk" Kamp is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He is the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte. He was the Commissioner of the Netherlands Antilles from January 1, 2009 until October, 10...
ordered an immediate (re-)investigation into the matter, but said that earlier information about this case did not result in the military police and Dutch public prosecutors to start a criminal investigation. Left-wing parties, such as the Labour Party
Labour Party (Netherlands)
The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...
(PvdA), which demanded an immediate parliamentary investigation were later rebuked by military commander Dick Berlijn
Dick Berlijn
General Dick Lodewijk Berlijn is a retired Royal Netherlands Air Force four-star general, who served as Chief of Defence of the Netherlands from 2004, when he succeeded Lt. Adm. Luuk Kroon, until 2008, when he was succeeded by Gen. Peter van Uhm...
, who stated that the left-wing opposition tarnished the reputation of the Dutch Department of Defense by their incriminating language, while nothing happened in Iraq. Mark Rutte, leader of the VVD, even went as far as to say that this Iraq story was a manipulation in order to influence the elections.
In an open letter to De Volkskrant on the day of the Dutch elections, defense minister Kamp said the news about possible mistreatment was deceptive, and that the editor of De Volkskrant should feel being misused by the sources for this story. The Department of Defense in the mean time is demanding a rectification of the story published by De Volkskrant.
A Dutch magazine, Elsevier
Elsevier (magazine)
Elsevier is a Dutch weekly magazine with a circulation of over 140,000 copies. Its chief editor is Arendo Joustra. It is conventionally considered to be one of the four most influential written media in its sector, along with De Groene Amsterdammer, Vrij Nederland and HP/De Tijd-History:The...
, later (January 2007) reported that the no.5 candidate of the Labour Party (PvdA), Ton Heerts, "advised" the Volkskrant on how to report on the story.
Voting Tools
Several organisations launched a voting tool which helped voters to decide between the multitude of parties. The Institute for Public and Politics (IPP), a government agency, had the "Stemwijzer" (the "Voting-pointer"). The Stemwijzer consisted out of thirty propositions like "Citizens should elect the Prime Minister." and voters could show their support for these propositions by clicking either "agree", "don't agree" or "don't know". The Stemwijzer than showed to which extent the voters agreed with each party, showing them from most to least similarity in answers, advising the voter to vote for the party which agreed with them most. The Stemwijzer had also been made for General, European, Provincial and Municipal elections since 1989.Kieskompas (Electoral Compass
Electoral Compass
The Electoral Compass is a voting advice website. Visitors can use the application to discover their position in the political landscape for upcoming elections. Electoral Compass was officially established at the VU Amsterdam on October 23, 2007....
) was launched by the newspaper Trouw
Trouw
Trouw is a Dutch daily newspaper. "Trouw" is a Dutch word meaning "fidelity", "loyalty", or "allegiance", and is cognate with the English adjective "true"...
in cooperation with the VU University Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit
The Vrije Universiteit is a university in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch name is often abbreviated as VU and in English the university uses the name "VU University". The university is located on a compact urban campus in the southern part of Amsterdam in the Buitenveldert district...
in order to compete with the Stemwijzer. This system was supposed to give considerably more information. Here voters could show their support for thirty six propositions on a five-point scale. Next they show whether they thought the current cabinet had performed well. Finally Kieskompas showed users their attitude towards party leaders as competent and trustworthy. The voters were shown a two-axis system (similar to a Nolan Chart
Nolan Chart
The Nolan Chart is a political diagram popularized by the American libertarian David Nolan. He reasoned that virtually all human political action can be divided into two general categories: economic and personal...
) and their own position as well as the position of each party in this chart. It stated which party was the closest to them and which party the farthest. It also gave them the possibility to see which coalition best matched their political preferences.
Other voting tools where the "Wie Kies Jij?" (the "Who do You Vote for") of the IPP which helped find the perfect candidate by his/her age, sex, dietary habits and political experience and the Stomwijzer (the "Stupid Pointer") which mocked the StemWijzer, but still gave reasonable voting advice
De Stemming 2006
Comedian Freek de JongeFreek de Jonge
Frederik "Freek" Jan Georg de Jonge is a Dutch cabaret performer, singer, comedian and blogger.-Early life and career:...
performed an 'election show' ('verkiezingsconference') on public television on the night before the elections. It was called "De Stemming 2006" (an ambiguous name which means both "The Vote 2006" and "The Mood 2006") In his ironic comedy show, which was totally focused on the elections, he ridiculed the candidates, making such a show a uniquely Dutch phenomenon. When asked whether this show would influence the upcoming elections de Jonge stated he would make a fool out of everyone, not favoring a single person. This was the second time he did such a show. The first one was in 2003, when it was the thirty-third best watched TV-programme in the Netherlands that year. This year, the show was watched by 2,016,000 viewers.
Voting machine controversy
Nedap
Nedap is a Netherlands based company. Its principal place of business is Groenlo, the Netherlands. It has subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Spain, and has been quoted on the Euronext exchange since 1947.The company focuses on developing and supplying...
voting machine
Voting machine
Voting machines are the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment , that is used to define ballots; to cast and count votes; to report or display election results; and to maintain and produce any audit trail information...
s used by 90% of the voters in the election. The report alleged it was easy to open the voting machine casing. The inner casing around the electronics was only protected by a very simple lock. Thus replacements of software and even hardware were relatively easily possible (by a simple memory chip swap, meaning that the memory that holds the voting data is not encrypted). Another machine is made by SDU and called "NewVote". It is based on a PC and uses a touchscreen instead of buttons. Only ten small districts still use paper and pencil.
Wij vertrouwen stemcomputers niet has threatened to bring minister Atzo Nicolaï
Atzo Nicolaï
Atzo Nicolaï is a former Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . Since 1 June 2011 he is a member of the board of directors of the Dutch chemical multinational DSM....
to court since they are not convinced by his assurances that there will be no fraud in the upcoming election. In response to the allegations, Nicolaï introduced new security measures for the voting machines. Currently Nedap is checking all its machines for tampering, is installing new chips and software that is less easily hacked, and seals the machines with a unique metal seal.
Based on inspections, on 30 October the government decided that there was a problem with SDU voting machines because within a radius of 10 metres the machines could be wirelessly monitored, so that these machines could not guarantee anonymity of voting to a sufficient degree. These machines, which are in use in 35 municipalities, including Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, have to be improved or replaced with an alternative before the elections. Many municipalities, including Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, decided to switch to the traditional pen and red pencil method of voting instead of the SDU machines. Machines made by Nedap
Nedap
Nedap is a Netherlands based company. Its principal place of business is Groenlo, the Netherlands. It has subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Spain, and has been quoted on the Euronext exchange since 1947.The company focuses on developing and supplying...
are still in use.
Experiments
Two experiments were conducted during these elections:"Stemmen in een Willekeurig Stemlokaal" (SWS) ('voting in a random polling-booth')
Because a lot of people could not vote because of problems caused by this experiment a group of citizens started procedures to nullify the results in all 311 area's where the experiment was conducted.
Another experiment is "Kiezen Op Afstand" (KOA) ('remote voting'), also called the experiment with internetstemmen (internet voting).
In an experiment in Breukelen
Breukelen
Breukelen is a town and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is situated to the north west of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and close to the lakes of the Loosdrechtse Plassen, an area of natural and touristic interest...
, a voting machine was placed in a petrol station. However, non-Breukelen citizens had to convert their 'voting pass' ('stempas') to an 'elector's pass' ('kiezerspas').
Public debates
More than during previous elections, there was a strong focus on the leaders, especially Bos of PvdA and Balkenende of CDA, regarding who of the two might become prime minister. This irritated not only other parties but also analysts who complained that elections should be about issues and parties, not about who becomes prime minister.Radio debate
The first public election debate between the leaders of the seven largest parties was held on 29 October 2006, on public radio. Mark RutteMark Rutte
Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician who has been Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 14 October 2010, as well as Minister of General Affairs in the Rutte cabinet...
, whose VVD is junior partner in the third Balkenende cabinet
Third Balkenende cabinet
The third Balkenende cabinet was formed on 7 July 2006 after a crisis in and the subsequent resignation of the second Balkenende cabinet. This demissionary minority cabinet of Christian Democratic Appeal and People's Party for Freedom and Democracy was negotiated by former prime minister Ruud...
of CDA prime-minister Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende is a Dutch politician of the party Christian Democratic Appeal .He was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010, having led four coalition governments, cabinets Balkenende I, II, III and IV, none of which served a full...
, was worried that the CDA will choose for a coalition with the PvdA after the elections, as this, at the time of the debate, was the only two-party coalition possible according to polls. Balkenende, however, kept his options open, and did not rule out a coalition with the PvdA. The PvdA's Wouter Bos stated that he will not become a deputy prime-minister in case Balkenende leads a CDA-PvdA coalition. He will then remain as chairman of the parliamentary party.
RTL 4 debate
This debate took place on 3 November 2006 and was televised by RTL4. Participants were Jan Peter BalkenendeJan Peter Balkenende
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende is a Dutch politician of the party Christian Democratic Appeal .He was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010, having led four coalition governments, cabinets Balkenende I, II, III and IV, none of which served a full...
and Wouter Bos
Wouter Bos
Wouter Jacob Bos is a Dutch management consultant and former politician of the Labour Party . He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende IV from February 22, 2007 till February 23, 2010...
. Balkenende focused on his achievements the last four years, stating "We are much better off than four years ago. We were behind in Europe and now we’re ahead but our work is not yet done." Bos felt that under Balkenende the gap between rich and poor had grown, stating "What have you asked of the wealthiest? Everybody has been asked to dig into their pockets to contribute to the economy." In an opinion poll conducted by TNS-Nipo following the televised debate, 50 percent of respondents thought Wouter Bos won the debate, against 46 percent for Jan Peter Balkenende.
NOS Jeugdjournaal debate
This debate was broadcast on 11 November 2006 and was televised by the JeugdjournaalJeugdjournaal
Jeugdjournaal is a Dutch television news programme produced by the Dutch public service broadcaster NOS for children. The programme has been broadcast since 1981....
(YouthNews) of the NOS
Nederlandse Omroep Stichting
The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting , English: Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, is one of the broadcasters in the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system...
. The debate was aimed at children from 8 to 14 years of age. Participants were top-candidates from the four parties leading the polls: Jan Peter Balkenende (CDA), Wouter Bos (PvdA), Mark Rutte (VVD) and Jan Marijnissen (SP). A poll among the young watchers after the debate showed that the Dutch children preferred Wouter Bos as the next prime minister (46%), before Marijnissen (26%), Balkenende (22%) and Mark Rutte (6%).
EenVandaag debate
This debate took place on 15 November 2006 and was organised by EenVandaagEénVandaag
EénVandaag is a current affairs programme broadcast on the Nederland 1 channel of Dutch public television. It is a co-production of the broadcasting associations AVRO and TROS....
. Participants were Jan-Peter Balkenende, Wouter Bos, Mark Rutte, Jan Marijnissen , Femke Halsema and André Rouvoet. According to an opinion poll following the debate, Jan Marijnissen won the debate.
NOS debates
- 21 November (NOS): two consecutive debates; the first between the leaders of the smaller parties in the polls, the second between leaders of the projected six largests parties:
- Alexander PechtoldAlexander PechtoldAlexander Pechtold is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 party. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 30 November 2006 as well as Parliamentary group leader since 23 November 2006...
(D66Democrats 66Democrats 66 is a progressive and social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned, young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system; it proposed to create an...
), Bas van der VliesBas van der VliesBastiaan Johannis van der Vlies is a former Dutch politician of the Reformed Political Party . He was a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands from June 10, 1981 until June 17, 2010. However, this does not make him the longest serving MP, Duymaer van Twist served for almost 45...
(SGP), Olaf StugerOlaf StugerOlaf Frederik Stuger is a Dutch businessman and former politician, sales manager, management consultant and civil servant....
(Pim Fortuyn List), Marco PastorsMarco PastorsMarco Pastors is a Dutch politician. He is currently political leader of the local party Leefbaar Rotterdam, a member of the city council for Rotterdam and the political leader of Een NL, a Dutch political party at the national level...
(One NL), Geert WildersGeert WildersGeert Wilders is a Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom , the third-largest political party in the Netherlands. He is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives...
(PVVParty for FreedomThe Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
) and Marianne ThiemeMarianne ThiemeMarianne Louise Thieme is a Dutch politician of the Party for the Animals . She has been Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives since November 23, 2006 and an MP since November 30, 2006....
(Partij voor de DierenParty for the AnimalsThe Party for the Animals is a political party in the Netherlands.Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare, though it claims not to be a single-issue party...
), at 19:05 - Jan Peter BalkenendeJan Peter BalkenendeJan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende is a Dutch politician of the party Christian Democratic Appeal .He was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010, having led four coalition governments, cabinets Balkenende I, II, III and IV, none of which served a full...
(CDAChristian Democratic AppealThe Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
), Wouter BosWouter BosWouter Jacob Bos is a Dutch management consultant and former politician of the Labour Party . He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende IV from February 22, 2007 till February 23, 2010...
(PvdALabour Party (Netherlands)The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...
), Mark RutteMark RutteMark Rutte is a Dutch politician who has been Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 14 October 2010, as well as Minister of General Affairs in the Rutte cabinet...
(VVDPeople's Party for Freedom and DemocracyThe People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
), Jan MarijnissenJan MarijnissenJohannes Guillaume Christianus Andreas Marijnissen is a Dutch politician of the Socialist Party . He served as Parliamentary leader in House of Representatives May 5, 1994 until June 20, 2008...
(SPSocialist Party (Netherlands)The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...
), Femke HalsemaFemke Halsemais a former Dutch politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 till 2011. She was also the leader of the GreenLeft parliamentary party in the House of Representatives from 2002 till 2010.-Pre-political career:...
(GreenLeftGreenLeftGreenLeft is a green political party operating in the Netherlands.GreenLeft was formed on 1 March 1989 as a merger of four left-wing political parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party...
) and André RouvoetAndré RouvoetAndré Rouvoet is a former Dutch politician of the ChristianUnion . First as a member of the RPF until the party merged with the Reformed Political League to form the ChristianUnion. He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from May 17, 1994 until February 22, 2007...
(ChristenUnieChristianUnionThe ChristianUnion , abbreviated to CU, is a Dutch Christian democratic political party. A centrist party, the CU's policies combine social conservatism and soft euroscepticism with more centre-left positions on economic, immigration, and environmental issues.Founded in 2000 as a merger of the...
) at 20:30.
- Alexander Pechtold
Results
Turnout
As voting has been voluntary in the Netherlands since the elections of 1971, not all voters exercise their right to vote. Parliamentary elections tend to draw between 70% and 90% turnout; the 2006 election drew a turnout of 80.1%.Due to this low rate of registration, votes of the Dutch living abroad had a negligible effect on the outcome of the elections.
Seat allocation
There are two things to note about the allocation to seats: first the division of remainder seats and second the MPs elected because of preference seats.The Netherlands use a D'Hondt method
D'Hondt method
The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
to allocate remainder seats. In order to get more of these seats two combined lists were formed. In the distribution of these seats the Socialist Party and the GreenLeft formed one block, as did the ChristianUnion
ChristianUnion
The ChristianUnion , abbreviated to CU, is a Dutch Christian democratic political party. A centrist party, the CU's policies combine social conservatism and soft euroscepticism with more centre-left positions on economic, immigration, and environmental issues.Founded in 2000 as a merger of the...
and the SGP. The GreenLeft-SP alliance got one rest seat, the CDA got two, the PvdA got two, D66 got one and the PVV also got one. This means that these parties are slightly overrepresented in parliament.
With the Dutch system of open list proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
, voters may indicate their preference for a particular candidate on a party's list. Usually the vast majority of people vote for the top candidate
Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...
, however this is not always the case.
In this election the number two candidate on the VVD list, Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk
Rita Verdonk
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a retired Dutch politician initially of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy until she was expelled in October 2007, she later formed her own party Proud of the Netherlands . She served as Minister for Integration and Immigration in Cabinets...
received a greater number of preference votes (620,555) than the party's lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...
Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician who has been Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 14 October 2010, as well as Minister of General Affairs in the Rutte cabinet...
(553,200). This was attributed to her greater national profile.
Also, the number six candidate on the D66
Democrats 66
Democrats 66 is a progressive and social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned, young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system; it proposed to create an...
list, Fatma Koşer Kaya
Fatma Koşer Kaya
Fatma Koşer Kaya is a Dutch lawyer and politician of Turkish origin. As a member of Democrats 66 she has been an MP since September 8, 2004. She focuses on social affairs....
received the second highest number of D66 preferences (34,564), second only to lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...
Alexander Pechtold
Alexander Pechtold
Alexander Pechtold is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 party. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 30 November 2006 as well as Parliamentary group leader since 23 November 2006...
(95,937).
This resulted from the CDA
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
and PvdA removing candidates of Turkish origin from their lists because of their position on the Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
of 1915–17. As a result the influential Turks Forum advised voters of Turkish origin to vote for Koser Kaya, who is of Turkish origin, although her position on the genocide is ambiguous.
Any candidate reaching the quota (16,397 votes in this election) is elected, taking preference over other candidates on the list. This means Koser Kaya is elected, despite being at number six on the list. D66 will receive only three seats, according to its share of the national vote.
Opinion polls
In the Netherlands there are three agencies that conduct frequent polls throughout the year (usually weekly). There is usually a small difference which may be due to different sampling and surveying methods applied. From 1 November the 'Politieke Barometer' started with two polls each week, and from 13 November they increased the frequency to daily polls.The last polls prior to the election of the Politieke Barometer,http://www.politiekebarometer.nl the poll by NOVA and Interview-NSS, the TNS-NIPO polls by RTL4,http://www.rtl.nl/actueel/rtlnieuws/verkiezingen2006.xml and the poll by Maurice de Honds' peil.nlhttps://n34.noties.nl/peil.nl/ yield the following results:
The day before the elections, about one third of the electorate had not yet made up their minds, resulting in polls giving strongly varying results. For this reason campaigning continued on election day itself. An aspect of this was tactical voting, with SP telling PvdA voters that a strong SP would force PvdA to form a left-wing coalition, VVD saying something similar to CDA voters concerning a right-wing coalition, PvdA and CDA saying they need to be strong to prevent the other party from forming or dominating a coalition and ChristenUnie saying it has the best cards to participate in any coalition. Shortly before the elections, PvdA leader Bos showed himself more interested in the much talked about left-wing coalition of PvdA, SP and GroenLinks (possibly with ChristenUnie), which he had refused to talk about for months. Many suspected he changed his mind to stop the exodus of PvdA voters to SP. During the municipal elections earlier that year PvdA grew strong and after that they even grew to 60 seats in the polls, but after March a gradual decline had set in, almost halving the size of PvdA in the polls.
| Party | 2003 Dutch general election, 2003 The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on January 22, 2003.-Background:... |
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| Socialist Party Socialist Party (Netherlands) The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet... |
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| Party for Freedom Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It... b |
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Cabinet formation
Since no party holds an absolute majority in the House of Representatives, the formation of a coalition government that consists of parties who together have enough seats to propose laws that can count on a majority in the House of Representatives was necessary. This is most commonly achieved by building a coalition that has a majority; although a minority cabinet that arranges ad-hoc majorities for its proposals is possible. With the 2006 results a majority coalition requires at least three parties.Initially, negotiations for a cabinet of CDA, PvdA and SP were started, but the parties seemed unwilling to form this cabinet. Later on, negotiations for a CDA-PvdA-ChristenUnie cabinet were started. This resulted in the formation of the Fourth cabinet Balkenende. It was installed by Queen Beatrix
Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...
on 22 February 2007. In the meantime the Balkenende III cabinet continued as a caretaker cabinet, which is not supposed to make new policy.
Reactions
In the final debate between the leaders of the major parties (CDA, PvdA, SP, VVD, PVV, GL and CU) it was pointed out that the seated government lost 9 seats and the left wing parties (PdvA, SP, GL, PvdD) won 8 seats, which was interpreted as a signal from the voters that government policy should be more social. On the right, the PVV gained 9 seats, but other parties are silent about a possible coalition with the PVV. In the debate between party leaders – after the election was over – the question was raised if any of the leaders would want a coalition with the PVV. All kept quiet. When Wilders called this a "cordon sanitaireCordon sanitaire
Cordon sanitaire — or quarantine line — is a French phrase that, literally translated, means "sanitary cordon". Though in French it originally denoted a barrier implemented to stop the spread of disease, it has often been used in English in a metaphorical sense to refer to attempts to prevent the...
," VVD leader Rutte responded fiercely, saying that "there is no cordon sanitaire." Rutte believes the PVV is a "one-issue party," but also pointed out that he did not exclude the PVV as coalition partner.
When asked about the possibility of a CDA-PvdA-CU coalition, PvdA leader Bos responded that during the campaign the differences between CDA and PvdA have turned out to be rather big and that the big winner SP also deserves a place at the negotiating table. SP leader Marijnissen responded to this that the SP had never excluded CDA as a coalition partner, but that the CDA of the previous cabinet is not one with which the SP can enter a coalition. That, combined with the program of the CDA and the list of CDA MPs would constitute many 'road bumps' and 'bears on the road', and said he did not really want to start a coalition with this CDA program and this CDA MP list. Prime minister Balkenende responded that the CDA he wanted does not exist and that he has to enter talks with the CDA as it is now.
Marco Pastors
Marco Pastors
Marco Pastors is a Dutch politician. He is currently political leader of the local party Leefbaar Rotterdam, a member of the city council for Rotterdam and the political leader of Een NL, a Dutch political party at the national level...
' One NL was defeated by PVV
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
even in his home town Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, where he had had a landslide victory at the 2002 municipal elections with his Leefbaar Rotterdam
Leefbaar Rotterdam
Livable Rotterdam is a political party in the large Dutch city of Rotterdam. It won the council elections of March 2002 due to the charismatic leadership of Pim Fortuyn. This made it the city's largest political party, a position held for 30 years by PvdA...
. Pastors, who himself had compared the present situation in the Netherlands with pre-war Germany, said that Wilders is too extreme for his taste, such as when speaking of a 'Tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
of Islamisation'. He didn't want to follow him in this extremism. "I would have done myself injustice".
Trivia
- The OSCE/ODIHR has deployed an election assessment mission to the Netherlands.
- The CDA party congress was ended by Roger GloverRoger GloverRoger David Glover is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. Glover is best known as the bassist and lyricist for the hard rock band, Deep Purple.-Early career:...
's song "Love is AllButterfly BallThe Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast is a concept album and subsequent live rock opera appearing in 1974 and 1975 respectively, based on the children's book of the same title .- Origin and production history :The work was originally conceived as a solo vehicle for Jon Lord to be produced...
". - The PvdA party congress was ended by the Marco BorsatoMarco BorsatoMarco Borsato is a Dutch singer. He started performing in Italian before switching to Dutch in 1994. He is married to Leontine Ruiters and has three children.-Biography:...
song "Rood" (Red). - The VVD party congress was ended by Mick JaggerMick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
song "Let's Work". - Filemon Wesselink, presenter of the (political) television program Lijst-0 for the youth channel BNNBNN (television)BNN or Bart's Neverending Network is a Dutch public broadcasting association supported by the Netherlands Public Broadcasting. BNN was founded in 1997 by Bart de Graaff, Gerard Timmer & Frank Timmer, and targets teenage and young adult audiences...
, was elected No. 30 on the D66Democrats 66Democrats 66 is a progressive and social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned, young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system; it proposed to create an...
candidate list. Wesselink tried in the program to become a candidate for various political parties, secretly taping each party's interview process. Although a candidate for D66, Wesselink withdrew himself from the list. - The municipality of SchiermonnikoogSchiermonnikoogSchiermonnikoog is an island, a municipality, and a national park in the northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland....
was able to tally its result first. - When PvdA leader Wouter Bos wanted to vote he couldn't because the PvdA had converted his 'stempas' to a 'kiezerspas', making it possible for him to vote anywhere in the country, but it also meant he could no longer use his 'stempas'. He didn't know about this, which resulted in an unpleasant surprise, after which he had to go and collect his new 'kiezerspas' in order to vote.
- In the hamlet of MarleOlst-WijheOlst-Wijhe is a municipality in the province of Overijssel, eastern Netherlands. It borders the Overijssel municipalities of Zwolle to the north, Raalte to the north and east and Deventer to the south; and the Gelderland municipalities of Voorst, Epe and Heerde to the west.-History and economic...
, with the smallest voting bureau in the Netherlands (housed in the living room of a farm) and with an electorate of 51, 55 people voted, giving it a turnout of 108%. This was made possible by a the 'stempas' (mobile voting card), which allows people to vote at any voting booth within their municipality.
External links
- Dutch Electoral Council
- "We don't trust voting computers" action group
- NSD: European Election Database – Netherlands publishes regional level election data (NUTS 1–3); allows for comparisons of election results, 1994–2010