House of Representatives (Netherlands)#Current composition

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".

The House of Representatives is the primary legislative body of the States General, where proposed legislation is discussed and the actions of the cabinet are reviewed. 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.{{Cite web |title=Democracy in the Netherlands |url=https://www.houseofrepresentatives.nl/how-parliament-works/democracy-netherlands |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=www.houseofrepresentatives.nl |language=nl}} Both individual cabinet ministers and the cabinet as a whole must have parliament’s confidence. Therefore, a minister, or the whole cabinet, must resign if a majority of parliament expresses it no longer has confidence in them.{{Cite web |title=The cabinet |url=https://www.houseofrepresentatives.nl/how-parliament-works/democracy-netherlands/cabinet |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=www.houseofrepresentatives.nl |language=nl}} Review of the actions of the cabinet takes the form of formal interrogations in plenary and committee meetings, 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.

Through functions like the scrutiny and political discussions before meetings of the Council of the European Union, the appointment of EU-rapporteurs, and participation in the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs the House of Representatives also plays a role in EU policy making.{{Cite web |title=Europe at The House of Representatives and the Senate |url=https://www.houseofrepresentatives.nl/how-parliament-works/europe-house-representatives-and-senate |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=www.houseofrepresentatives.nl |language=nl}}

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 deputies.

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.

All citizens over the age of 18 are eligible to vote. Eligible citizens residing in the Netherlands are automatically registered through the municipal population register, while expatriates can permanently register at the municipality of The Hague provided they have a current Dutch passport or national ID. Residents of Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten can only vote if they have spent at least ten years residing in the Netherlands or work for the Dutch civil service.{{citation |title=Kiesgerechtigdheid |date=22 April 2016 |url=https://www.kiesraad.nl/verkiezingen/tweede-kamer/stemmen/kiesgerechtigdheid |access-date=2 December 2018 |publisher=Government of the Netherlands}}{{Efn|Residents of these countries are eligible to vote for their own parliaments instead.}}

Prisoners serving a term of more than one year are not eligible to vote. From 2009 onwards, mentally incapacitated citizens have regained the right to vote.{{citation |title=Uitsluiting kiesrecht |date=22 April 2016 |url=https://www.kiesraad.nl/verkiezingen/tweede-kamer/stemmen/uitsluiting-kiesrecht |access-date=3 September 2023 |publisher=Government of the Netherlands}}

{{See also|Political parties in the Netherlands|Elections in the Netherlands}}

The Netherlands uses a system of party-list proportional representation. Seats are allocated among the parties using the D'Hondt method{{cite web |date=22 February 2019 |title=Kieswet, Hoofdstuk P |url=https://wetten.overheid.nl/jci1.3:c:BWBR0004627&afdeling=II&hoofdstuk=P&z=2019-02-22&g=2019-02-22 |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=wetten.nl |language=nl}} with an election threshold of 0.67% (a Hare quota).{{cite web |date=22 April 2016 |title=Kiesdrempel, kiesdeler en voorkeurdrempel |url=https://www.kiesraad.nl/verkiezingen/tweede-kamer/uitslagen/kiesdrempel-kiesdeler-en-voorkeurdrempel |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=Kiesraad.nl |language=nl}} Parties may choose to compete with different candidate lists in each of the country's twenty electoral circles. If a party competes with different candidate lists, the seats allocated to the party are subsequently allocated among its different candidate lists using the largest remainders method.{{Cite web |url=https://www.kiesraad.nl/verkiezingen/tweede-kamer/kandidaatstelling/kieskringen |title=Kieskringen |website=Kiesraad.nl |date=26 April 2016 |language=nl |accessdate=3 July 2024}} The seats won by a list are first allocated to the candidates who, in preferential votes, have received at least 25% of the Hare quota (effectively ¼ of a seat or 0.17% of the total votes), regardless of their placement on the electoral list. If multiple candidates from a list pass this threshold, their ordering is determined based on the number of votes received. Any remaining seats are allocated to candidates according to their position on the electoral list.{{cite report|title=Nederland, Parlementsverkiezingen, 15 maart 2017: Eindrapport|url=http://www.osce.org/nl/odihr/elections/netherlands/322761?download=true|publisher=OSCE/ODIHR|date=7 June 2017|access-date=28 October 2017|archive-date=24 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024093005/http://www.osce.org/nl/odihr/elections/netherlands/322761?download=true|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.kiesraad.nl/verkiezingen/tweede-kamer/uitslagen/zetelverdeling-over-kandidaten |title=Zetelverdeling over kandidaten |website=Kiesraad |date=22 April 2016 |language=nl |accessdate=9 July 2023 |archive-date=9 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709100008/https://www.kiesraad.nl/verkiezingen/tweede-kamer/uitslagen/zetelverdeling-over-kandidaten |url-status=live}}

From 1973 until 2017, parties were able to form electoral alliances to increase their share of seats in parliament, allowing parties to overcome some of the bias of the D'Hondt method; however, this practice has since been discontinued.{{cite news | url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/fenomeen-politieke-lijstverbinding-sneuvelt-in-eerste-kamer~a4501654/ | title=Fenomeen politieke lijstverbinding sneuvelt in Eerste Kamer | author=Gijs Herderscheê | date=20 June 2017 | publisher=Volkskrant}}

When a vacancy arises, the seat is offered to the next candidate on the candidate list to which the seat was originally allocated.{{Cite web |url=https://www.kiesraad.nl/verkiezingen/tweede-kamer/benoemingen/tussentijdse-benoemingen |title=Tussentijdse benoemingen |website=Kiesraad.nl |date=22 April 2016 |language=nl |accessdate=3 July 2024}}

{{Main|Dutch cabinet formation}}

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 a 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 parties 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 1917, 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 number 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.{{citation needed|reason=I believe this is not true.|date=December 2023}} All Dutch cabinets since then have been coalitions of two or more parties.

{{Main|Historic composition of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands}}

File:Dutchparlseats2.png

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 center, 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.

{{Main|List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2023–present}}

The composition of the House of Representatives as of the 2023 general election is shown in the table below.

{{Politics of the Netherlands}}

{{Main|Parliamentary committee of the Dutch parliament}}

Parliamentary committees are set up for a specific substantive or procedural subject. The committees consult in so-called committee meetings. A standing committee is a committee set up to monitor a policy area of a ministry. They are defined in the {{ill|Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)|lt=Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives|nl|Reglement van Orde van de Tweede Kamer|WD=}}. Standing committees were established in 1953 to relieve the plenary of overly detailed discussions. In the period from the 2023 Dutch general election, there are a total of fifteen standing committees. Except for the Ministry of General Affairs, there is a permanent committee for each ministry that deals with subjects in the field of that ministry. For some ministries, the portfolio is divided over several committees. In addition, there are standing committees without a ministry for European Affairs and Digital Affairs.

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{{commons category|Tweede Kamer|House of Representatives of the Netherlands (Tweede Kamer)}}

• Dutch Parliamentary Behaviour Dataset, 1922 to 2024
• {{official website|http://www.houseofrepresentatives.nl }}
• {{in lang|nl}} [http://www.tweedekamer.nl Official site]

{{Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2023–present}}

{{Members of the States-General of the Netherlands}}

{{Political parties in the Netherlands}}

{{Netherlands topics}}

{{National lower houses}}

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Category:States General of the Netherlands

Category:Dutch political institutions

Category:High Councils of State

Netherlands

Category:Organisations based in The Hague