Everywhere in the Netherlands, newly elected members of the Provincial Council go to the polls. Today they elect the new Senate. The BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) will become the largest party in the new Senate, but it’s not yet clear how big the victory will be.
According to the provisional forecast, the BBB will enter the Senate with 17 people after Tuesday. GroenLinks and the PvdA, who will form a new group, are together practically fifteen senators and the VVD would get ten seats. The Senate has 75 members.
Insecure
The fact that the result is not yet certain is because the people who can elect the Senate are not obliged to vote for their own party. They can also support another party. In this way, parties can help allies get an extra seat, without losing a seat themselves, in the hope of getting something in return later.
Each vote starts at 3pm. A total of 616 people will be able to vote on Tuesday. This concerns MPs from the twelve provinces and members of the constituencies of the ‘special municipalities’ of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. Furthermore, for the first time there is an electoral college which votes for Dutch citizens residing abroad. These members meet in the Town Hall in The Hague.
Each vote is worth a certain number of points, depending on the number of inhabitants. A vote in South Holland is worth 692 points, while a vote for Saba is worth four points. In total there are 178,970 points to distribute. For a seat in the Senate you need 2386.27 points.
BBB
In the March 15 provincial election, more than two months ago, the BBB received the most votes in every province. This has never happened before. In Drenthe, the party received almost a third of all votes. In total, the party finished with 138 people in the United States, more than numbers two (VVD, 63) and three (GroenLinks, 51) combined.
The Senate must review bills passed by the House of Representatives. If the Senate also agrees, a law will go into effect.
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
