Election Excitement

It’s September 12 and the polls are open throughout the Netherlands to elect parties to seats in the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer).  The job is heavy for Dutch voters since there are a mind boggling 20 political parties running in this election.  There are two big issues in this campaign, the economy, and the role of the Netherlands in the EU.  With discussions about jobs and deficits, it has a familiar ring...The other related issue is how supportive the Netherlands wants to be of EU plans to bailout struggling economies like Greece...

The Dutch system is definitely not a “winner take all” system.  Representation is proportional to votes, and with so many parties no party has ever won the majority.  A recent blog post, 10 Things you Need to Know about Dutch Elections described the long standing mainstream parties from left to right  “SP (socialist party), Groen Links (green party), PVDA (labour party), D’66 (democratic party), Christen Unie (Christian), CDA (biggest Christian party), SGP (reformed/protestant), VVD (liberals).” The most right leaning party (which would be a left center party in the US), the VVD, is the party of current Prime Minister, Mark Rutte.

But of course, as in the US, in the Netherlands there are extremes.  Geert Wilders and his “Freedom Party” offer a populist agenda.  This party a) won 20 seats in the prior elections two years ago and b) essentially blew up the prior coalition when he reneged on an agreement to follow European standards to hold deficits to 3% of GDP.  Wilders ran his last campaign, 2 years ago, based on anti-immigrant sentiment, often targeted at the growing Muslim population in the Netherlands.  He has built his current campaign based on anti-EU sentiment.  He wants to exit the EU and abandon the Euro.  

The prime minister will come from the party winning the most votes.  The current Prime Minister, Mark Rutte is head of the VVD.  The VVD is running neck and neck with the PVDA, with the Socialist Party and Geert Wilders' Freedom Party close behind.  The results will be anti-climactic in some sense, because they only signify the beginning of the long work to form a new coalition government.

Of course, with so many parties, there are a few parties that always bring a smile to my face… “Party for humans and spirit,” 50+ (I hear this is popular with the 20 something crowd), the “Party for the Animals”, and the "Pirate Party."  Stay tuned...