States-Provincial

Kingdom of the Netherlands
Azure, billetty Or a lion with a coronet Or armed and langued Gules holding in his dexter paw a sword Argent hilted Or and in the sinister paw seven arrows Argent pointed and bound together Or. [The seven arrows stand for the seven provinces of the Union of Utrecht.] The shield is crowned with the (Dutch) royal crown and supported by two lions Or armed and langued gules. They stand on a scroll Azure with the text (Or) "Je Maintiendrai" (French for "I will maintain".)
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The States-Provincial (in Dutch: Provinciale Staten, abbreviated PS – commonly known as simply the Staten) is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has the responsibility for matters of sub-national or regional importance. Each States-Provincial is directly elected by the electors within the relevant province, and the number of seats in each States-Provincial is proportional to its population.

The States-Provincial originated as Estates assemblies in the Middle Ages, hence the name. From 1813 to 1850 the noble members of the ridderschap chose one third of the members of States-Provincial. Johan Rudolf Thorbecke's reforms and his "Provinces Law" ("provinciewet") of 1850 brought this privilege to an end.

The States-Provincial choose the Gedeputeerde Staten as the executive organ of the province. Originally, the States-Provincial themselves had also executive powers and chose the Gedeputeerde Staten from their own members for daily governance. On 11 March 2003, the two institutions split; in other words, there was a change from fusion of powers to separation of powers. The principal roles of the States-Provincial have become to set general policies, represent the people, approve provincial legislation and the annual budget and to oversee the executive. Both the Gedeputeerde Staten and the States-Provincial are presided over by the King's Commissioner in the province, appointed by the Crown every 6 years.

The last provincial elections were held 18 March 2015.

Three months after their election the combined members of the States-Provincial elect the members of the Senate of the States-General of the Netherlands.

Number of seats in each States-Provincial

The size of a States-Provincial ranges from 39 members for a province with less than 400,000 inhabitants to 55 members for a province with more than 2,000,000 inhabitants.

Before 2007, it ranged from 47 members for a province with less than 200,000 inhabitants to 83 members for a province with more than 2,500,000 inhabitants. As a consequence of a change to the Provinciewet, starting at the States-Provincial elections of 7 March 2007, the total number of States-Provincial members was reduced from 764 to 564. A survey of the change in seats per province:

Province Seats 2003 Seats 2007 Seats 2011 Seats 2015
Groningen55434343
Friesland55434343
Drenthe51414141
Overijssel63474747
Flevoland47393941
Gelderland75535555
Utrecht63474749
North Holland83555555
South Holland83555555
Zeeland47393939
North Brabant79555555
Limburg63474747
Total764564566570

A consequence of this reduction in the number of seats is that the election threshold (the minimum number of votes needed for a party to gain at least one seat in an assembly) has risen. Depending on the province, the threshold now lies between 1.5% and over 2% of the votes. Because of this, it has become harder for small parties to win a seat. This may also have consequences for the representation of small parties in the Senate, which is elected by the members of the States-Provincial.

National results

Outcome of the provincial elections calculated at national level:

Political party 2003* 2007 2011 2015
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) 103 102 112 89
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) 169 151 86 89
Socialist Party (SP) 29 83 56 70
Democrats 66 (D66) 20 9 42 67
Party for Freedom (PVV) / 0 69 66
Labour Party (PvdA) 150 114 107 63
GreenLeft (GL) 37 33 34 30
ChristianUnion (CU) 19 35 23 29
Party for the Animals (PvdD) 0 8 7 18
Reformed Political Party (SGP) 13 13 12 18
50Plus 0 0 9 14
CU-SGP[1] 4 3 1 2
Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) 10 0 / /
Regionalist parties 10 13 8 15
total 564 564 566 570
%voters 47.6 46.4 56.047

Note *: 2003 election calculated for the 2007 number of seats (564).

Elections by party by province

Provincial elections, 2003

Outcome of the Dutch provincial elections, 2003:

Province 2003
CDA PvdA VVD GL SP D66 CU SGP LPF (others) total
Groningen 12 20 7 5 3 2 4 0 0 2 55
Friesland 16 15 6 3 1 1 3 0 7+1+1+1 55
Drenthe 12 19 9 4 0 2 2 0 1 2 51
Overijssel 24 15 9 3 3 2 4 2 1 0 63
Flevoland 10 12 11 3 2 2 4 1 2 0 47
Gelderland 24 18 13 5 4 3 3 4 1 0 75
Utrecht 16 14 14 6 3 4 3 2 1 0 63
North Holland 17 24 20 8 5 5 1 2 1 83
South Holland 20 20 18 5 4 4 3 4 4 1 83
Zeeland 13 10 7 2 2 1 3 6 0 1+2 47
North Brabant 30 17 15 4 6 3 1 2 1 79
Limburg 28 14 9 3 4 2 0 0 1 2 63
Total 222 198 138 51 37 31 26+5 19+5 15 22 764

Provincial elections, 2007

Outcome of the Dutch provincial elections, 2007:

Province 2007
CDA PvdA VVD GL SP D66 CU SGP PvdD (others) total
Groningen 9 12 5 3 7 1 4 0 1 1 43
Friesland 12 12 5 2 4 0 3 0 0 5 43
Drenthe 10 13 8 2 5 0 3 0 0 0 41
Overijssel 17 9 7 2 6 0 5 1 0 0 47
Flevoland 8 7 9 2 6 0 5 1 1 0 39
Gelderland 15 10 9 3 7 1 4 3 1 0 53
Utrecht 11 8 10 4 5 2 4 1 1 1 47
North Holland 11 10 13 5 9 2 2 2 1 55
South Holland 13 10 12 3 8 1 4 2 1 1 55
Zeeland 10 6 6 2 5 0 3 5 0 2 39
North Brabant 18 8 11 2 12 1 1 1 1 55
Limburg 18 8 7 2 9 1 0 0 1 1 47
Total 151 114 102 32 83 9 35+3 13+3 9 13 564

Due to defections from one party to another and other such reasons the number of seats can fluctuate during each inter-elections period. This table only shows the distribution straight after the elections.

The named 'others' for 2007 are:

Provincial elections, 2011

Outcome of the Dutch provincial elections, 2011:

Province 2011
CDA PvdA VVD GL SP D66 CU SGP PvdD PVV 50+ (others) total
Groningen 5 12 6 3 6 3 3 0 1 3 0 1 43
Friesland 8 11 6 2 3 2 3 0 0 4 0 4 43
Drenthe 6 12 9 2 4 2 2 0 0 4 0 0 41
Overijssel 11 9 8 2 4 3 3 2 0 4 1 0 47
Flevoland 4 6 9 2 3 3 3 1 1 6 1 0 39
Gelderland 9 9 11 4 5 4 3 2 1 6 1 0 55
Utrecht 6 7 11 4 4 5 2 1 1 5 1 0 47
North Holland 5 11 13 5 5 6 1 1 6 1 1 55
South Holland 6 10 12 3 5 5 2 2 1 8 1 0 55
Zeeland 6 7 7 1 3 2 2 4 0 5 0 2 39
North Brabant 10 7 12 3 8 5 0 1 8 1 0 55
Limburg 10 6 8 3 6 2 0 0 0 10 2 0 47
Total 86 107 112 34 56 42 23+1 12+1 7 69 9 8 566

The named 'others' for 2011 are:

Provincial elections, 2015

Outcome of the Dutch provincial elections, 2015:

Province 2015
CDA PvdA VVD GL SP D66 CU SGP PvdD PVV 50+ (others) total
Groningen 5 6 4 3 8 4 4 - 2 3 - 3+1 43
Friesland 9 7 5 1 5 3 3 - 1 4 1 4 43
Drenthe 6 7 7 2 5 4 3 0 - 5 1 1 41
Overijssel 11 5 6 2 5 5 4 2 1 5 1 0 47
Flevoland 5 3 7 2 5 4 3 2 2 6 2 0 41
Gelderland 9 6 9 3 6 7 4 3 2 5 1 0 55
Utrecht 6 5 9 4 4 9 3 2 2 4 1 0 49
North Holland 5 7 11 4 6 10 1 3 6 1 1 55
South Holland 7 5 10 3 5 7 3 3 2 8 2 0 55
Zeeland 6 4 6 1 4 3 2 6 - 4 1 1+1 39
North Brabant 9 4 10 3 9 7 1 2 7 2 1 55
Limburg 11 4 5 2 8 4 - - 1 9 1 1+1 47
Total 89 63 89 30 70 67 29+2 18+2 18 66 14 15 570

The named 'others' for 2015 are:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Combinated list in two provinces (North Holland and North Brabant, also Friesland in 2003).

External links

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