Politics of the Netherlands

Prime Minister Mark Rutte

The politics of the Netherlands is that of an indirect democracy. It has a constitution and a monarchy that operates within the constitution. The democratic structure is determined by a parliament (the legislative branch) and a government (the executive branch). The government depends on the confidence of the parliament, but the two branches aren't strictly separated (the parliamentary system).

The parliament is called the States General (Dutch: Staten-Generaal) and consists of two chambers: a lower house, the so-called Second Chamber (Dutch: Tweede Kamer), comparable with the House of Representatives in other countries, and a upper house, the so-called First Chamber (Dutch: Eerste Kamer), comparable with the Senate in other countries, and often called likewise.

At a lower level, there are provinces, municipalities and water boards.

On a higher level, the Netherlands makes part of the Benelux, Council of Europe, European Union, NATO and the United Nations.

The Netherlands is officially called the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is composed of four countries: the Netherlands itself (the European part) and three island countries in the Caribbean: Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Martin. Three other islands in the Caribbean that belong to the Netherlands have a status of special municipalities of the Netherlands, the so-called Caribbean Netherlands.

Government

Current government is the Fourth Rutte cabinet, a coalition of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD, a conservative liberal party), Democrats 66 (D66, a social liberal party), the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA, a Christian democratic party), and the ChristianUnion (CU, an orthodox Christian democratic party).

The Fourth Rutte Cabinet was established on January 10, 2022. Prime Minister has been VVD politician Mark Rutte since 2010.

Political parties

The following 18 political parties are in parliament:

50+ - 50PLUS (Dutch: 50PLUS), a party focused on the interests of elder people.
BIJ1 - BIJ1 (Dutch: BIJ1), a party focused on combatting racism and gender discrimination.
BBB - FarmerCitizenMovement (Dutch: BoerBurgerBeweging), a party focused on the interests of the rural environment.
CDA - Christian Democratic Appeal (Dutch: Christen-Democratisch Appèl), a Christian democratic party. Previous Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende is a CDA member.
CU - ChristianUnion (Dutch: ChristenUnie), an orthodox Christian democratic party.
D66 - Democrats 66 (Dutch: Democraten 66), a social liberal party, founded in 1966.
DENK - DENK (Dutch: DENK), a party aiming at non-western citizens.
FVD - Forum for Democracy (Dutch: Forum voor Democratie), a party critical about the current political situation.
GL - GreenLeft (Dutch: GroenLinks), a leftist party that pays special attention to the environment.
JA21 - JA21 (Dutch: JA21), a conservative liberal and nationalist party.
OPNL - Independent Politics the Netherlands (Dutch: Onafhankelijke Politiek Nederland), till 2022 Independent Senate Group (Dutch: Onafhankelijke Senaatsfractie, shortened OSF), a collection of local parties, for example the Frisian National Party (FNP)
PvdA - Labour Party (Dutch: Partij van de Arbeid), a social democratic party.
PvdD - Party for the Animals (Dutch: Partij voor de Dieren), a party for animal rights and against global warming.
PVV - Party for Freedom (Dutch: Partij voor de Vrijheid), a populist party, established by Geert Wilders.
SGP - Reformed Political Party (Dutch: Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij), a conservative Calvinist party.
SP - Socialist Party (Dutch: Socialistische Partij), a socialist party.
Volt - Volt Netherlands (Dutch: Volt Nederland), a pan-European party.
VVD - People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Dutch: Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie), a conservative liberal party. Current Prime Minister Mark Rutte is a VVD member.

No more in parliament:

AOV - General Senior Alliance (Dutch: Algemeen Ouderen Verbond), a former party focused on the interests of elder people.
BP - Farmers' Party (Dutch: Boerenpartij), a former party focused on the interests of farmers.
CD - Centre Democrats (Dutch: Centrum Democraten), a former anti-immigration party.
DS'70 - Democratic Socialists 1970 (Dutch: Democratisch-Socialisten 1970), a former moderate social democratic party, a split from the PvdA.
LN - Livable Netherlands (Dutch: Leefbaar Nederland), a former populist party.
LPF - Pim Fortuyn List (Dutch: Lijst Pim Fortuyn), a former populist party established by the in 2002 murdered politician Pim Fortuyn.

Political leaders

Political leaders since June 2023, sorted by the number of seats in the House of Representatives.

Mark Rutte -
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD)
Sigrid Kaag -
Democrats 66 (D66)
Geert Wilders -
Party for Freedom (PVV)
Wopke Hoekstra -
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA)
Lilian Marijnissen -
Socialist Party (SP)
Attje Kuiken
Labour Party (PvdA)
Jesse Klaver -
GreenLeft (GL)
Esther Ouwehand -
Party for the Animals (PvdD)
Mirjam Bikker -
ChristianUnion (CU)
Thierry Baudet -
Forum for Democracy (FVD)
Laurens Dassen -
Volt Netherlands (Volt)
Joost Eerdmans -
JA21
Kees van der Staaij -
Reformed Political Party (SGP)
Farid Azarkan -
DENK
Caroline van der Plas -
FarmerCitizenMovement (BBB)
Sylvana Simons -
BIJ1
Wybren van Haga -
Group Van Haga ^[1]
Liane den Haan -
Member Den Haan ^[2]
Pieter Omtzigt -
Member Omtzigt ^[3]
Nilüfer Gündoğan -
Member Gündoğan ^[4]

Parties represented only in the Senate.

Martin van Rooijen -
50PLUS (50+)
Auke van der Goot -
Independent Politics the Netherlands (OPNL)

Politics Of The Netherlands Media

Joint session of the States General in the Ridderzaal, 2013
The Netherlands has a culture of respectful and friendly debate. From left to right, members of the House of Representatives Sander de Rouwe (CDA), Ineke van Gent (GL), Han ten Broeke (VVD), Kees Verhoeven (D66) and Farshad Bashir (SP), 2010
This figure shows the seat distribution in the Dutch House of Representatives from the first general elections after the First World War (1918), to the current situation. The left wing parties are on the bottom, the Christian democratic parties in the center, with the right wing parties closer to the top.
Johan Rudolph Thorbecke(1849–1853;1862–1866,1871–1872)
Jan Heemskerk(1874–1877;1883–1888)
Abraham Kuyper(1901–1905)
Pieter Cort van der Linden(1913–1918)
Hendrikus Colijn(1925–1926;1933–1939)
Willem Drees(1948–1958)
Piet de Jong(1967–1971)