Senate (Netherlands)

The Senate (Template:Langx Template:IPA, literally "First Chamber of the States General", or simply Template:Lang Template:IPA; sometimes Template:Lang Template:IPA) is the upper house of the States General, the legislature of the Netherlands. Its 75 members are elected on lists by the members of the twelve provincial councils and four electoral colleges for the SenateTemplate:Efn every four years, within three months of the provincial elections. All provinces and colleges have different electoral weight depending on their population.

Members of the Senate tend to be veteran or part-time politicians at the national level, often having other roles. They receive an allowance which is about a quarter of the salary of the members of the lower house. Unlike the politically more significant House of Representatives, it meets only once a week.

It has the right to accept or reject legislative proposals but not to amend them or to initiate legislation. Directly after a bill has been passed by the House of Representatives, it is sent to the Senate and is submitted to a parliamentary committee. The committee decides whether the bill can be immediately put on the agenda of the full chamber or if there should first be preparatory study of the bill. If a bill is immediately put on the agenda of the full chamber, it is passed as a formality without a debate.

Name

Although this body is called the "Senate" in English, this is not a direct translation of its official Dutch name, the "First Chamber of the States General" or, in short, the "First Chamber". Nevertheless, and in contrast to the Second Chamber, the name Senaat is also used often in the media. "Member of the First Chamber" (Eerste Kamerlid), "member of the Senate" (senaatslid) or "senator" (senator) are used, although the first one is the official and most used term.

History

Exterior of the Senate Building from the Binnenhof.

Exterior of the Senate Building from the Hofvijver.

The first constitution of the modern Netherlands, passed in 1814, re-established a unicameral States General. As it became clear that the former Southern Netherlands would be added to the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands, a newly instituted constitutional commission was tasked with drafting a new constitution. The southern members of the constitutional commission pressed for a bicameral system because of the conviction that their nobility should be given a place in the legislature. While the northern members were not enthusiastic about the proposal, they agreed under the condition that nobility would not be a requirement for membership.<ref name=tweekamerstelsel>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The new constitution, which came into effect on 24 August 1815, thus provided for a Senate consisting of forty to sixty members appointed by the king for life. The list of the first appointees was published on 16 September 1815 and the newly appointed chamber was first assembled on 21 September 1815 in Brussels in a joint assembly with the House of Representatives.<ref name=huygens>Template:Cite web</ref> In its early years, the Senate functioned as a bulwark of the Crown (the king and his ministers). Its members, appointed by the king from among the "most significant of the country", were mostly confidants of the king who were often called upon to veto bills that displeased him. Such bills were usually private members' bills from the House of Representatives.<ref name=tweekamerstelsel/> The Senate remained in existence after the independence of Belgium in 1830, although its membership was halved to no fewer than twenty and no more than thirty members.<ref name=huygens/>

Much changed in the political sphere as a result of the Constitutional Reform of 1848, which introduced direct elections for the House of Representatives, which until then had been elected by provincial councils. The constitutional commission, under the chairmanship of Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, intended for the Senate to be directly elected as well, but the predominantly conservative House of Representatives blocked this, fearing that the two chambers would be too similar. Additionally, senators were expected to judge bills with more independence and distance from daily politics, as a chambre de reflection, which was deemed impossible when they would be forced to campaign for direct election.

It was therefore decided that the Senate would henceforth be elected by provincial councils. Its 39 seats were distributed among the provinces degressively proportional to population, and a third of its members would be elected for 9-year terms every three years using a majoritarian system.<ref name=kiessystemen>Template:Cite web</ref> The position of the Senate and the criteria governing eligibility to stand for election were also among the changes. Monitoring the quality of legislation gradually came to be the main function of the Senate after 1848.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The existence and functioning of the Senate have been criticised throughout history, manifested in reports of state commissions, government proposals and private member's bills calling for reform or abolition of the Senate. Abolition of the Senate was attempted by social democrats and progressive liberals in 1903, and again after World War I, but these proposals could not count on sufficient support.<ref name=tweekamerstelsel/>

However, reform came in 1922, five years after a constitutional amendment that introduced universal male suffrage and proportional representation to the House of Representatives. The constitutional amendment of 1922 brought proportional representation to the Senate as well. Rather than the seats being distributed among the provinces, the provinces were now organised into four groups of roughly equal population, each electing twelve or thirteen senators under party-list proportional representation. The term of senators was decreased to six years, with two of the four groups electing their senators every three years. The number of senators was increased from 50 to 75 in 1956, and the distribution of seats among groups of provinces was adapted to account for changes in population distribution.<ref name=kiessystemen/>

The Senate was subjected to another reform in 1983. The term of senators was further reduced to four years, equal to that of Representatives. The system of groups of provinces and staggered elections was abolished in favour of quadrennial elections for the entire Senate in one nationwide constituency. The state commission which had paved the way for the constitutional reform had also recommended direct elections for the Senate, but the House of Representatives adopted a motion rejecting this proposal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Several minor changes have since been adopted. In 2010, the possibility for party lists to enter into an electoral alliance was abolished, and the number of preference votes needed for a candidate to be elected was increased from 50% to 100% of the quota.<ref name=kiessystemen/> The establishment of the three electoral colleges for the Caribbean Netherlands was made possible by the constitutional amendment of 2017. The members of the Caribbean electoral colleges were elected for the first time on 20 March 2019. Citizens of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba with Dutch nationality are entitled to vote.<ref name="RCN3119">Q&A's kiescollege 2019, Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland 3 januari 2019, p. 1.</ref> The establishment of a non-resident electoral college was made possible by the 2022 constitutional amendment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Elections and composition

Eligibility

Any Dutch citizen aged 18 years or older who is qualified to vote can stand for election in either house of the States General.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, no one can simultaneously sit as a member in both houses.<ref name="Eerste">Template:Cite web</ref>

Electoral system

Template:Politics of the Netherlands The 75 senators are elected every four years by the members of the provincial councils of the country's twelve provinces and (since 2019) by electoral colleges of the Caribbean Netherlands and Dutch expatriates. The seats are distributed in one nationwide constituency using party-list proportional representation. Remainder seats are distributed using the highest averages method. The weight of a member's vote is determined by the population of the province in which the voter is a member of the provincial council, at a ratio of approximately 1 vote per 100 residents. The table below shows the weight of members' votes per province as of the 2019 election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Province/Special municipality	Members	PopulationTemplate:Efn	Votes	Weight per member
South Holland	55	3,674,146	36,740	668
North Holland	55	2,853,488	29,095	519
North Brabant	55	2,544,995	25,465	463
Gelderland	55	2,071,913	20,735	377
Utrecht	49	1,342,194	13,426	274
Overijssel	47	1,156,373	11,562	246
Limburg	47	1,116,127	11,139	237
Friesland	43	647,740	6,493	151
Groningen	43	584,094	5,848	136
Drenthe	41	492,179	4,920	120
Flevoland	41	416,431	4,182	102
Zeeland	39	383,073	3,822	98
Bonaire	9	20,104	198	22
Sint Eustatius	5	3,138	30	6
Saba	5	1,915	20	4

Parliamentary groups

Group		Leader	Seats
Template:Party name with color	Paul Rosenmöller	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Ilona Lagas	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Tanja Klip-Martin	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Theo Bovens	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Paul van Meenen	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Alexander van Hattem	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Ingrid Visseren-Hamakers	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Karin van Bijsterveld	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Rik Janssen	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Tineke Huizinga	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Johan Dessing	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Gaby Perin-Gopie	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Peter Schalk	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Martin van Rooijen	Template:Political party data
Template:Party name with color	Auke van der Goot	Template:Political party data
style="background:Template:Party color;" |	Independents	-	Template:Composition bar compact

College of President and Vice-Presidents

The College of President and Vice-Presidents is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Senate. It consists of the president of the Senate and two vice-presidents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Position	Portrait	Name	Group
President Template:Small		Mei Li Vos (born 1970)	Template:Party name with color
First Vice-President Template:Small		Boris Dittrich (born 1955)	Template:Party name with color
Second Vice-President Template:Small		Hendrik-Jan Talsma (born 1978)	Template:Party name with color

See also

• List of presidents of the Senate (Netherlands)
• Historic composition of the Senate of the Netherlands

External links

• Template:Official website (English)
• Template:Official website (Dutch)