Not Just Bikes 🇳🇱Oct 29

I voted today!

Now that I'm a Dutch citizen I am eligible to vote in the general elections for the first time!

It's comical how big the voting paper (stembiljet) is, but thankfully I'm old enough to have used paper maps, so I was able to easily re-fold it like a pro.

Photo by 1Veertje (CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Show threadUlrik Nyman ⬡

@notjustbikes what is the election system?

Do you just select one candidate or do you prioritise more than one?

Oct 29 at 12:15pmTusky
Show threadraboofOct 29

@UlrikNyman you select one

the votes are then first used to assign a number of 'seats' to 'parties' (there are 150 seats for 27 parties, some more serious than others). Which exact person you voted on then determines how the seats assigned to that party are filled.

Show threadEmil Jacobs - CollectifissionOct 29
@raboof @UlrikNyman In addition to this, the Dutch system is also fully proportional. There are 150 seats in Parliament, so you need 1/150th of the vote to get a seat. This is why we have so many parties in Parliament 😅
Show threadRoland SivonenOct 29
@UlrikNyman @notjustbikes the Netherlands use proportional representation, I would guess that you vote for one individual candidate and their list at the same time like in Finland. The seats are allocated to each list with the D'Hondt method and then within each list to the candidates with the most votes.
Show threadkainisenniOct 29
@UlrikNyman @notjustbikes You select one. If that candidate gets more than 50% of the threshold they'll get priority in case the list they're on doesn't get enough votes to elect them by default
(This was a bit oversimplified)
Show threadMartijn VosOct 29

@UlrikNyman @notjustbikes

One candidate, who belongs to a party. If the candidate doesn't meet the voting threshold for a seat (common for everybody except the handful most popular ones) , the votes go to the party and are assigned according to the party list. Candidates that do make the threshold (rare, but I'm hoping we can get Barbara Kathman elected through these preference votes) are guaranteed one of the seats for their party.

But it's mostly just proportional representation.

Show threadVincent TunruOct 29

@mcv @notjustbikes @UlrikNyman

Note that candidates only need to get 25% of the votes required for a seat to be bumped up their party's list.

Show threadMartijn VosOct 29

@VincentTunru @UlrikNyman @notjustbikes

Are you sure? But then it's possible for more candidates to reach that 25% than the party has seats.

I'm fairly sure it used to be 100%, but I can imagine they lowered the threshold in order to encourage this.

Show threadVincent TunruOct 29

@mcv @notjustbikes @UlrikNyman Fairly sure, yes, see also https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_lijst#Nederland

(It also says the threshold used to be 50%, though it's 100% for the Senate.)

I think your scenario will only ever be hypothetical (that needs a really even split of votes), but I imagine they will then get sorted by the number of votes and then cut off by the party's number of seats.

Open lijst - Wikipedia

Show threadChris AbbeyOct 29
@mcv @notjustbikes @UlrikNyman so does that mean a single race could have multiple candidates from the same party? So like if party x had 5 candidates, who each got 10% of the vote, then party x has 50% and beats the single candidate from party y who got 48% alone?
Show threadMartijn VosOct 29

@cabbey @UlrikNyman @notjustbikes

It's proportional representation. If a party gets 50% of the vote, they get 50% of the seats. (This never happens; I think 34% in the early 1980s was the highest I've seen.)

Show threadChris AbbeyOct 29
@mcv @notjustbikes @UlrikNyman nice. And that tells me a healthy multi party system too… not our broken duopoly.
Show threadUlrik Nyman ⬡Oct 29

@cabbey @mcv @notjustbikes

But remember that the causation goes the other way.

You need to change the election system to brake out of the duopoly. Start a local grassroots organization for change of the election system. Get the left and right to agree on that election reform is the most important change.