Election Year or Fear!

[Ram Pant]

We might just be starting to see some sense back in NL politics. Following the election and nobody wanting to work with Wilders PVV, The VVD not willing to work with GL/PvdA and D66 not willing to work with JA21, D66 and CDA got together and came up with a plan laude by most parties. A notable exception was Wilders (PVV was 2nd largest party) who didn't bother to read it, saying, I was left out of any discussion on forming a coalition so I'll just oppose anything and everything. Then VVD was invited to join in the talks. The expected outcome is expected this Friday. The 3 coalition partners have 66 from the 150 seats. 10 short of a majority

In the past week, GL/PvdA (19 seats) have thrown their hat into the ring saying time to lut the country above the party and that they, despite not being in the cabinet, are prepared to support much of what the incoming cabinet wants and have some things they'd like in return. Also, 7 of the 26 PVV seat holders have grown a conscience and split to form their own party. Same final wishes as the PVV but they are willing to accept slightly less severe strengthening of immigration rules and see that a s a step towards getting their end game, bit by bit. JA21, 9 seats are also backing the new coalition on many things. A centre cabinet with support (at a reasonable price) from both left and right.

The extremes from both sides are calling it treachery. Most view it as "Netherlands first" as we've been without a proper government for over 4 years now. Many things need sorting and sorting quickly. The Nitrogen problem. Personal tax allowance issues caused by racism at the tax office. Compensation for people whose houses in the province of Groningen are subsiding due to the wiining of gas there over the past 60 odd years. Ukraine, NATO, EU, immigration etc... There are a couple of smaller parties with just 2 or 3 seats who are also making positive noises. Looks like we might finally have a cabinet that a) gets things done and b) lasts the full 4 years (minus the coalition forming period)

[Andy_Faber]

We might just be starting to see some sense back in NL politics. Following the election and nobody wanting to work with Wilders PVV, The VVD not willing to work with GL/PvdA and D66 not willing to work with JA21, D66 and CDA got together and came up with a plan laude by most parties. A notable exception was Wilders (PVV was 2nd largest party) who didn't bother to read it, saying, I was left out of any discussion on forming a coalition so I'll just oppose anything and everything. Then VVD was invited to join in the talks. The expected outcome is expected this Friday. The 3 coalition partners have 66 from the 150 seats. 10 short of a majority

In the past week, GL/PvdA (19 seats) have thrown their hat into the ring saying time to lut the country above the party and that they, despite not being in the cabinet, are prepared to support much of what the incoming cabinet wants and have some things they'd like in return. Also, 7 of the 26 PVV seat holders have grown a conscience and split to form their own party. Same final wishes as the PVV but they are willing to accept slightly less severe strengthening of immigration rules and see that a s a step towards getting their end game, bit by bit. JA21, 9 seats are also backing the new coalition on many things. A centre cabinet with support (at a reasonable price) from both left and right.

The extremes from both sides are calling it treachery. Most view it as "Netherlands first" as we've been without a proper government for over 4 years now. Many things need sorting and sorting quickly. The Nitrogen problem. Personal tax allowance issues caused by racism at the tax office. Compensation for people whose houses in the province of Groningen are subsiding due to the wiining of gas there over the past 60 odd years. Ukraine, NATO, EU, immigration etc... There are a couple of smaller parties with just 2 or 3 seats who are also making positive noises. Looks like we might finally have a cabinet that a) gets things done and b) lasts the full 4 years (minus the coalition forming period)

Sounds like going radical on the voting system wasn't such a bright idea. What's your view? I voted for PR at the UK referendum but having seen other countries traumas I'd rather keep the UK system now

[Ram Pant]

Sounds like going radical on the voting system wasn't such a bright idea. What's your view? I voted for PR at the UK referendum but having seen other countries traumas I'd rather keep the UK system now

For me, the biggest drawback is the possibility of coalition talks taking forever. 9 months is not uncommon, both here and in Belgium. In those 9 months you get the new Parliament with the old cabinet. The cabinet MAY introduce new things but they, of course, have to be voted on by the new Parliament. The only things they can make "cabinet decisions" on are things that were current at the time of the election.

I like the way that, needing a 3, 4 or 5 party consensus means the more outlandish left or right policies get dumped leaving a central approach, which is generally the more sensible policies.

Where it falls down is the large number of parties in Parliament. The one just ending had getting on 20. The current one had 12, that is now 13 due to the 7 splitting from the PVV.

Current state of the poll...

D66 26 seats centre
VVD 22 right of centre left of PVV
GL/PvdA 20 links
PVV 19 so far right on immigration they're off the page, socio-economically left of centre
CDA 18 Christian Democrats centre
JA21 9 right od the VVD, left of the PVV
PVV breakaway 7 just as right as PVV but prepared to help the country by taking the odd win as a step to their aim
FvD 7 well off the right hand side of the page. Previous leader was/is also a huge conspiracy theorist. Party was don to 1 seat in the polls. Replaced just before th election to try to gain some credibility. It seems to have worked.
BBB 4 right of centre representing the working man and farmers, they say
DENK 3 basically a Muslim party
SGP 3 ultra orthodox religious group, never had a male parliamentary candidate in their 108 years of existence. women belong in t kitchen...
PvD 3 Party reperesenting Animals. very green, very socialist, huge on animal welfare
CU 3 Christian Union. Religious but sensible with it. left of centre on most things but when it comes to ethics on things like embryo tests etc they are very much right
SP 3 Socialist party, some very good ideas, I like the leader apart from his not backing of the Ukraine
50+ 2 A party for those aged 50+ whose main platform is ensuring decent pensions for everybody
Volt 1 Pro European slightly right of centre party

1 lower house seat equates, roughly, to 70K votes. In the original vote pre the PVV split, they, like D66, ahd 26 seats. Overall D66 had 10K more votes so they got first chance at forming a new cabinet. We are 2 days short of 3 months post election and the new cabinet is almost ready. That is very quick in relation to most elections which usually take place around 3 months after the election is called (almost 6 months this time), add 6 to 9 months coalition forming and that's 9 to 12 months of inactivity, politically. I'd prefer a systen where parties would need 10% of the vote to get their share of the seats. 13 parties in a 150 seat Parliament is way too many.

Lot of info there to take in but that's the current make up of the lower house. Upper house is voted on, sort of, the % of votes in local elections entitles a party to that % of the seats in the upper house.