House of Representatives (Netherlands)

House of Representatives Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal
States General of the Netherlands
Type
Type	Lower house
Leadership
Speaker	Vera Bergkamp, D66 since 7 April 2021
First Deputy Speaker	Roelien Kamminga, VVD since 7 July 2021
Second Deputy Speaker	Martin Bosma, PVV since 30 June 2010
Structure
Seats	150
Political groups	Coalition (demissionary) (77)   VVD (34)   D66 (24)   CDA (14)   CU (5) Opposition (73)   GL–PvdA (17) PvdA (9) GL (8)   PVV (16)   SP (9)   PvdD (6)   FvD (5)   BBB (4)   SGP (3)   DENK (3)   Volt (2)   JA21 (1)   BIJ1 (1)   Independent (6) Van Haga Group (2) Ephraim (1) Den Haan (1) Gündoğan (1) Omtzigt (1)
Elections
Voting system	Party-list proportional representation D'Hondt method
Last election	22 November 2023
Meeting place
Binnenhof, The Hague (pictured, not in use due to ongoing renovation) Bezuidenhoutseweg 67, The Hague (temporary)
Website
House of Representatives

The House of Representatives (Dutch: Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal [ˈtʋeːdə ˈkaːmər dər ˈstaːtə(ŋ) ˌɣeːnəˈraːl] ^ⓘ, literally "Second Chamber of the States General", or simply Tweede Kamer) is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. It has 150 seats, which are filled through elections using party-list proportional representation. Generally, the house is located in the Binnenhof in The Hague, however, it has temporarily moved to the former building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Bezuidenhoutseweg 67 in the Hague while the Binnenhof is being renovated.

Name

Although the body is officially called the "House of Representatives" in English, it is not a direct translation of its official Dutch name, the "Second Chamber of the States General", "Second Chamber" or more colloquially just the "Chamber". Rather than "representative" (afgevaardigde), a member of the House is referred to as (Tweede) Kamerlid, or "member of the (Second) Chamber".

Functions

Exterior of the House of Representatives at Binnenhof

Exterior of the temporary House of Representatives at Bezuidenhoutseweg 67

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

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

Elections

The normal term of the House of Representatives is four years. Elections are called when the government loses the parliament's confidence, the governing coalition breaks down, the term of the House of Representatives expires or when no governing coalition can be formed.

Parties

Main article: Political parties of the Netherlands

Anyone eligible to vote in the Netherlands also has the right to establish a political party and contest in elections for the House of Representatives. Parties wanting to take part must register 43 days before the elections, supplying a nationwide list of no more than 50 candidates (80 if the party already has more than 15 seats). Parties that do not have any sitting candidates in the House of Representatives must also pay a deposit (11,250 euro for the March 2021 elections, for all districts together) and provide 30 signatures of support from residents of each of the 20 electoral districts in which they want to collect votes.

Party lists

Candidate lists are given to voters at least 14 days before the election. Each candidate list is numbered, with the candidate in the first position being known as the lijsttrekker ("list puller"). The lijsttrekker is usually appointed by the party to lead its election campaign, and is almost always the party's political leader and candidate for Prime Minister. Parties may choose to compete with different candidate lists in each of the 20 electoral districts, but as seats are allocated on a national rather than district level, most parties have almost identical lists in all districts with candidates running. Only large parties usually have some regional candidates at the bottom of their lists. From 1973 until its abolition in June 2017 it was possible for two or more parties to combine their separate lists to increase the chance of winning a remainder seat. This was known as a 'list combination' or Lijstverbinding / lijstencombinatie.

Registration and voting

Citizens of the Kingdom of the Netherlands aged 18 and over have the right to vote. Eligible citizens residing in the Netherlands are automatically invited to vote through their mandatory registration in a municipal population register (Basisregistratie Personen). Eligible citizens living outside of the Netherlands can permanently register to vote at the municipality of The Hague, provided they have a current Dutch passport or identity card. Residents of the constituent countries Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, can only votes if they have spent ten years residing in the Netherlands or work for the Dutch civil service.

Prisoners serving a term of more than one year and in addition have been given the additional penalty of having their voting rights retracted. From 2009 onwards mentally incapacitated citizens have regained the right to vote.

A single vote can be placed on any one candidate. Many voters select one of the party leaders, usually topping the list of party candidates. Voters can give a preference vote for a candidate lower down the list.

Allocation of seats

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

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

Formation of governing coalition

After all seats are allocated, a series of negotiations take place in order to form a government that, usually, commands a majority in the chamber. Since 2012, the House of Representatives appoints a "scout" to ask the major party leaders about prospective coalitions. On basis of the scout's interviews, the House of Representatives then appoints an informateur, who checks out possible coalitions, and formateur, who leads negotiations (before 2012, the informateur and formateur were appointed by the monarch). It typically takes a few months before the formateur is ready to accept a royal invitation to form a government and become prime minister. All cabinet members must resign from parliament, as the constitution does not allow a cabinet member to simultaneously hold a seat in the House of Representatives.

Due to the nationwide party-list system and the low election threshold, a typical House of Representatives has ten or more factions represented. Such fragmentation makes it nearly impossible for one party to win the 76 seats needed for a majority in the House of Representatives. Since the current party-list proportional representation system was introduced in 1918, no party has approached the number of seats needed for an outright majority. This fragmentation also makes it almost prohibitively difficult to win enough seats to govern alone. The highest amount of seats won by a single party since then has been 54 out of 150, by the CDA in 1986 and 1989. Between 1891 and 1897, the Liberal Union was the last party to have an absolute majority of seats in the House of Representatives. All Dutch cabinets since then have been coalitions of two or more parties.

Composition

Historical compositions

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

Representation per party, between 1946 and 2021

Historically, there have been 100 seats in the House of Representatives. In 1956, this number was increased to 150, at which it remains today.

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

Current composition

Main article: List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2021–2023

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

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

Wasted vote

The small fraction of voters, which were not represented by any party in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands despite valid vote, is increasing. The wasted vote fraction is shown below:

Parliamentary leaders

Parliamentary leaders			Party	Service as parliamentary leader	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Sophie Hermans (born 1981)	VVD	10 January 2022 (1 year, 320 days)	23 March 2017 (6 years, 248 days)
		Jan Paternotte (born 1984)	D66	10 January 2022 (1 year, 320 days)	23 March 2017 (6 years, 248 days)
		Jesse Klaver (born 1986)	GL–PvdA	12 May 2015 – 27 October 2023 (8 years, 168 days) (as leader of the GL parliamentary group) 27 October 2023 (30 days) (as leader of the GL–PvdA parliamentary group)	17 June 2010 (13 years, 162 days)
		Geert Wilders (born 1963)	PVV	30 November 2006 (16 years, 361 days)	26 July 2002 (21 years, 153 days) 25 August 1998 – 23 May 2002 (3 years, 271 days)
		Pieter Heerma (born 1977)	CDA	10 January 2022 (1 year, 320 days) 21 May 2019 – 31 March 2021 (1 year, 314 days)	20 September 2012 (11 years, 75 days)
		Lilian Marijnissen (born 1985)	SP	13 December 2017 (5 years, 348 days)	23 March 2017 (6 years, 248 days)
		Thierry Baudet (born 1983)	FvD	23 March 2017 (6 years, 248 days)	23 March 2017 (6 years, 248 days)
		Christine Teunissen (born 1985)	PvdD	13 October 2022 (1 year, 44 days) (Temporarily replacing Esther Ouwehand during her sick leave)	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days) 11 October 2018 – 31 January 2019 (112 days)
		Mirjam Bikker (born 1982)	CU	17 January 2023 (313 days)	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)
		Laurens Dassen (born 1985)	Volt	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)
		Joost Eerdmans (born 1971)	JA21	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days) 25 September 2006 – 30 November 2006 (66 days)	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days) 23 May 2002 – 30 November 2006 (4 years, 191 days)
		Kees van der Staaij (born 1968)	SGP	9 June 2010 (13 years, 170 days)	19 May 1998 (25 years, 191 days)
		Farid Azarkan (born 1971)	DENK	22 March 2020 (3 years, 249 days) 23 April 2018 – 2 September 2018 (132 days)	23 March 2017 (6 years, 248 days)
		Caroline van der Plas (born 1967)	BBB	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)
		Sylvana Simons (born 1971)	BIJ1	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)
Independent Parliamentary leaders			Group/ Member (Seats)	Service as parliamentary leader	Service as a Member of the House of Representatives
		Wybren van Haga (born 1967)	Van Haga Group (3) (split from FvD)	13 May 2021 (2 years, 197 days) 24 September 2019 – 1 December 2020 (1 year, 68 days)	31 October 2017 (6 years, 26 days)
		Pieter Omtzigt (born 1974)	Member Omtzigt (1) (split from CDA)	15 September 2021 (2 years, 72 days)	15 September 2021 (2 years, 72 days) 26 October 2010 – 26 May 2021 (10 years, 212 days) 3 June 2003 – 17 June 2010 (7 years, 14 days)
		Liane den Haan (born 1967)	Member Den Haan (1) (split from 50+)	6 May 2021 (2 years, 204 days)	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)
		Nilüfer Gündoğan (born 1977)	Member Gündoğan (1) (expelled from Volt)	28 March 2022 (1 year, 273 days)	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)

^{Geert Wilders is the Party Leader and Chairman of the PVV}

^{Lilian Marijnissen is the Party Leader of the SP}

^{Jesse Klaver is the Parliamentary Party Leader of GroenLinks–PvdA}

^{Thierry Baudet is the Party Leader and Chairman of FvD}

^{Esther Ouwehand is the Party Leader of the PvdD}

^{Mirjam Bikker is the Party Leader of the CU}

^{Laurens Dassen is the Party Leader of Volt}

^{Joost Eerdmans is the Party Leader of JA21}

^{Kees van der Staaij is the Party Leader of the SGP}

^{Farid Azarkan is the Party Leader of DENK}

^{Caroline van der Plas is the Party Leader of the BBB}

^{Sylvana Simons is the Party Leader of BIJ1}

Members of the Presidium

Portrait		Name	Position	Party	Service in the Presidium	Service as a member of the House of Representatives
		Vera Bergkamp (born 1971)	Speaker	D66	31 October 2017 (6 years, 26 days)	20 September 2012 (11 years, 67 days)
		Roelien Kamminga (born 1978)	First Deputy Speaker	VVD	7 July 2021 (2 years, 142 days)	31 March 2021 (2 years, 240 days)
		Martin Bosma (born 1964)	Second Deputy Speaker	PVV	30 June 2010 (13 years, 241 days)	30 November 2006 (16 years, 361 days)
		Anne Kuik (born 1987)	Third Deputy Speaker	CDA	14 April 2021 (2 years, 226 days)	23 March 2017 (6 years, 248 days)
		Michiel van Nispen (born 1982)	Fourth Deputy Speaker	SP		2 April 2014 (9 years, 238 days)
		Tom van der Lee (born 1964)	Sixth Deputy Speaker	GL–PvdA		23 March 2017 (6 years, 248 days)
		Frank Wassenberg (born 1966)	Eighth Deputy Speaker	PvdD	14 April 2021 (2 years, 226 days)	17 November 2015 (8 years, 9 days)
		Salima Belhaj (born 1978)	Ninth Deputy Speaker	D66		26 January 2016 (7 years, 304 days)

Parliamentary Committees

Main article: Parliamentary committee of the Dutch parliament

Parliamentary Committee	Ministry	Current Chair
Parliamentary committee for the Interior	Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations	Kiki Hagen (D66)
Parliamentary committee for Foreign Affairs	Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Attje Kuiken (GL–PvdA)
Parliamentary committee for Finance	Ministry of Finance	Judith Tielen (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Justice and Security	Ministry of Justice and Security	Paul van Menen (D66)
Parliamentary committee for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy	Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy	Agnes Mulder (CDA)
Parliamentary committee for Defence	Ministry of Defence	Raymond de Roon (PVV)
Parliamentary committee for Health, Welfare and Sport	Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport	Bart Smals (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Social Affairs and Employment	Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment	Tunahan Kuzu (DENK)
Parliamentary committee for Education, Culture and Science	Ministry of Education, Culture and Science	Ingrid Michon (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Infrastructure and Water Management	Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management	Tjeerd de Groot (D66)
Parliamentary committee for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality	Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality	Jaco Geurts (CDA)
Select Parliamentary Committee	Ministry	Current Chair
Parliamentary committee for Kingdom Relations	Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations	Mariëlle Paul (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for European Affairs	Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Laura Bromet (GL–PvdA)
Parliamentary committee for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation	Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Jorien Wuite (D66)
Parliamentary committee for Building Supervision	Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management	Ockje Tellegen (VVD)
Parliamentary committee for Petitions and the Citizen Initiatives		Vacant
Parliamentary committee for Intelligence and Security		Sophie Hermans (VVD)
Presidium of the House of Representatives		Vera Bergkamp (D66)
Special Parliamentary Committee	Ministry	Current Chair
Parliamentary committee for Digital Affairs		Roelien Kamminga (VVD)

External links

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