More parties, more 'poldering': governing the Netherlands
In the media
The House of Representatives has never been so fragmented, with seven parties holding three seats or less. Experts warn of political chaos, but Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, says in NRC newspaper that this a strength of Dutch democracy.
With 18 factions in the Senate and a record number of small parties in the House of Representatives, Dutch politics is more fragmented than ever. However, Voermans does not see this fragmentation as a weakness, but as a fundamental characteristic of Dutch democracy. 'It's actually a strength in our system that broad coalitions force parties to compromise – called “poldering”, or consensus politics.' According to Voermans, the instability of such cabinets is limited: 'Two-party cabinets serve an average of 65 percent of their term, four-party cabinets 59 percent, five-party cabinets 54 percent. That’s not a huge difference.'
Voermans points out that small parties make a valuable contribution to the political debate and can make a difference, even if they only have one seat. The professor mentions the JA21 party, which helped steer the education budget through parliament with one seat in 2022. He also mentions Sylvana Simons of the BIJ1 party who managed to put the Netherlands’ history of slavery on the political agenda and even made Prime Minister Rutte change his position on the issue. 'That's typical of the Netherlands – we’re a nation of minorities, and have been since the 17th century.'
More information?
Read the full article in NRC (in Dutch)