 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 75 seats in the Senate 38 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2019 election to the Senate of the Netherlands was held on 27 May 2019, two months after the provincial elections. [1]
Forum for Democracy, which took part for the first time, became the largest party. This was later undone by several party splits.
The Senate consists of 75 members elected every four years by the members of the States-Provincial of the country's twelve provinces, and, following a law change in 2017, electoral colleges representing the special municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, [5] [6] who are in turn elected directly by the citizens two months earlier in the 2019 provincial and electoral college elections. The seats are distributed in one nationwide constituency using party-list proportional representation. [7]
The value of each elector's vote is determined by the population of the province or special municipality which the elector represents, at a ratio of approximately 1 vote per 100 residents.
| Province | Members | Population [8] | Votes | Value per member |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Holland | 55 | 3,674,146 | 36,740 | 668 |
| North Holland | 55 | 2,853,488 | 29,095 | 519 |
| North Brabant | 55 | 2,544,995 | 25,465 | 463 |
| Gelderland | 55 | 2,071,913 | 20,735 | 377 |
| Utrecht | 49 | 1,342,194 | 13,426 | 274 |
| Overijssel | 47 | 1,156,373 | 11,562 | 246 |
| Limburg | 47 | 1,116,127 | 11,139 | 237 |
| Friesland | 43 | 647,740 | 6,493 | 151 |
| Groningen | 43 | 584,094 | 5,848 | 136 |
| Drenthe | 41 | 492,179 | 4,920 | 120 |
| Flevoland | 41 | 416,431 | 4,182 | 102 |
| Zeeland | 39 | 383,073 | 3,822 | 98 |
| Bonaire | 9 | 20,104 | 198 | 22 |
| Sint Eustatius | 5 | 3,138 | 30 | 6 |
| Saba | 5 | 1,915 | 20 | 4 |
| Polling firm | Date(s) | VVD | CDA | D66 | PVV | SP | PvdA | GL | CU | PvdD | SGP | 50+ | OSF | DENK | FVD | Rutte III Support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANP projection | 21 Mar 2019 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 31 | –7 |
| Ipsos exit poll | 20 Mar 2019 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 31 | –7 |
| Peil.nl exit poll | 20 Mar 2019 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 29 | –9 |
| Peil.nl | 19 Mar 2019 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 28 | –10 |
| I&O Research | 15–18 Mar 2019 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 28 | –10 |
| Kantar Public | 14–17 Mar 2019 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 30 | –8 |
| I&O Research | 8–12 Mar 2019 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 28 | –10 |
| Ipsos | 8–11 Mar 2019 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 28 | –10 |
| I&O Research | 22–26 Feb 2019 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 28 | –10 |
| Ipsos | 22–25 Feb 2019 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 29 | –9 |
| 2015 election | 26 May 2015 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 38 | +1 |
| Party or alliance | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forum for Democracy | 1,057,030 | 14.51 | 86 | New | |||
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 1,017,937 | 13.97 | 80 | –9 | |||
| CDA-affiliated | Christian Democratic Appeal | 805,862 | 11.06 | 72 | –17 | ||
| Bonaire Patriotic Union | 1,530 | 0.02 | 2 | New | |||
| Democratic Party (Sint Eustatius) | 366 | 0.01 | 5 | New | |||
| Total | 807,758 | 11.09 | 79 | –10 | |||
| GroenLinks | 783,006 | 10.75 | 61 | +31 | |||
| PvdA-affiliated | Labour Party | 619,906 | 8.51 | 53 | –10 | ||
| Bonaire Democratic Party | 2,166 | 0.03 | 3 | New | |||
| Total | 622,072 | 8.54 | 56 | –7 | |||
| D66-affiliated | Democrats 66 | 567,363 | 7.79 | 41 | –26 | ||
| Bonaire People's Movement | 3,097 | 0.04 | 4 | New | |||
| Total | 570,460 | 7.83 | 45 | –22 | |||
| Party for Freedom | 504,948 | 6.93 | 40 | –26 | |||
| Socialist Party | 430,096 | 5.90 | 35 | –35 | |||
| CU–SGP | Christian Union | 353,443 | 4.85 | 31 | +2 | ||
| Reformed Political Party | 179,899 | 2.47 | 14 | –4 | |||
| CU–SGP joint list in North Brabant | 19,466 | 0.27 | 1 | –1 | |||
| Total | 552,808 | 7.59 | 46 | –3 | |||
| Party for the Animals | 317,104 | 4.35 | 20 | +2 | |||
| 50PLUS-affiliated | 50PLUS | 265,215 | 3.64 | 17 | +3 | ||
| Party for the North | 10,527 | 0.14 | 2 | +1 | |||
| Total | 275,742 | 3.79 | 19 | +4 | |||
| OSF-affiliated | Local Brabant | 25,485 | 0.35 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Frisian National Party | 23,662 | 0.32 | 4 | 0 | |||
| Groningers' Interests | 18,556 | 0.25 | 3 | 0 | |||
| Local Limburg | 18,474 | 0.25 | 2 | +1 | |||
| Elderly Party North Holland | 18,307 | 0.25 | 0 | –1 | |||
| Local Parties South Holland | 11,648 | 0.16 | 0 | New | |||
| Local Parties Gelderland – Code Orange | 11,053 | 0.15 | 0 | New | |||
| Party for Zeeland | 10,619 | 0.15 | 2 | +1 | |||
| Locally Strong | 9,344 | 0.13 | 1 | 0 | |||
| U26 Municipalities | 6,530 | 0.09 | 0 | New | |||
| Frisian Provincial Interests | 5,345 | 0.07 | 0 | New | |||
| Total | 159,023 | 2.18 | 13 | +1 | |||
| Denk | 121,753 | 1.67 | 4 | New | |||
| Code Orange | 24,047 | 0.33 | 0 | New | |||
| NIDA | 11,347 | 0.16 | 0 | New | |||
| Seniors Brabant | 9,687 | 0.13 | 0 | New | |||
| Elderly Appeal - Heart for Brabant | 6,719 | 0.09 | 0 | New | |||
| Independent Party Drenthe | 3,777 | 0.05 | 0 | New | |||
| Natural Frisian | 2,917 | 0.04 | 0 | New | |||
| Jesus Lives | 2,323 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Senior Interests | 1,414 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Politically Active Elders | 1,283 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Respect! | 976 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |||
| Windward Islands People's Movement | 547 | 0.01 | 4 | New | |||
| Saba Labour Party | 110 | 0.00 | 1 | New | |||
| Total | 7,284,884 | 100.00 | 589 | +19 | |||
| Valid votes | 7,284,884 | 99.41 | |||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 43,014 | 0.59 | |||||
| Total votes | 7,327,898 | 100.00 | |||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 13,047,950 | 56.16 | |||||
| Source: Kiesraad: European Netherlands (Provincial), Bonaire (EC), Saba (EC), Sint Eustatius (EC) | |||||||
Rutte III lost its majority in the senate.
 | Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues. |
| Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues. |
| Party | Unweighted Vote | Weighted Vote | Seats | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Faithless electors | % | Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/− | ||
| Forum for Democracy | 87 | +1 | 14.80 | 27,473 | 15.87 | New | 12 | +12 | |
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 78 | -2 | 13.27 | 26,157 | 15.11 | –0.68 | 12 | –1 | |
| Christian Democratic Appeal | 76 | -3 | 12.93 | 19,756 | 11.41 | –4.20 | 9 | –3 | |
| GroenLinks | 65 | +4 | 11.05 | 19,363 | 11.18 | +5.92 | 8 | +4 | |
| Democrats 66 | 50 | +5 | 8.50 | 15,154 | 8.75 | –3.00 | 7 | –3 | |
| Labour Party | 56 | ±0 | 9.52 | 14,921 | 8.62 | –2.43 | 6 | –2 | |
| Party for Freedom | 38 | -2 | 6.46 | 11,298 | 6.53 | –5.05 | 5 | –4 | |
| Socialist Party | 35 | ±0 | 5.95 | 10,179 | 5.88 | –6.40 | 4 | –5 | |
| Christian Union | 33 | +1 | 5.61 | 8,707 | 5.03 | –0.58 | 4 | +1 | |
| Party for the Animals | 20 | ±0 | 3.40 | 6,550 | 3.78 | +0.62 | 3 | +1 | |
| 50PLUS | 18 | –1 | 3.06 | 5,251 | 3.03 | +0.57 | 2 | ±0 | |
| Reformed Political Party | 15 | +1 | 2.55 | 4,493 | 2.60 | –0.38 | 2 | ±0 | |
| Independent Senate Group | 13 | ±0 | 2.21 | 2,265 | 1.31 | –0.26 | 1 | ±0 | |
| DENK | 4 | ±0 | 0.68 | 1,563 | 0.90 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Blank list | 0 | ±0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Total valid votes | 588 | 173,121 | 75 | ±0 | |||||
| Invalid votes | 1 | +1 | 0.00 | 4 | 0.00 | ±0.00 | |||
| Votes cast / turnout | 589 | ±0 | 100.00 | 173,125 | 100.00 | ±0.00 | |||
| Abstentions | 0 | ±0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | ±0.00 | |||
| Registered voters | 589 | 173,125 | |||||||
| Sources [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] | |||||||||
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, is a party of the centre-right, which promotes private enterprise and economic liberalism.
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands.
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union; it has participated in all but three cabinets since it became a unitary party.
Democrats 66 is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
The Party for the Animals is a political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare.
Elections of the Dutch Senate were held on 23 May 2011, following the provincial elections on 2 March 2011. The 566 members of the twelve States-Provincial elected the 75 Senate members. The new Senate was installed on 7 June 2011. The term ended on 8 June 2015.
Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 12 September 2012 after Prime Minister Mark Rutte handed in his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix on 23 April. The 150 seats of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands were contested using party-list proportional representation. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) received a plurality of the votes, followed by the Labour Party (PvdA).
General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives.
Provincial elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 18 March 2015. Eligible voters elected the members of the States-Provincial in the twelve provinces. These elections also indirectly determined the members of the Senate, since the 566 members of the twelve States-Provincial will elect the Senate's 75 members in the Senate election on 26 May 2015. These provincial election were held on the same day as the 2015 Dutch water boards elections.
General elections were held in the Netherlands from 15 to 17 March 2021 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. Following the elections and lengthy coalition formation talks, the sitting government remained in power.
Forum for Democracy is a far-right political party in the Netherlands that was founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections in the 2017 general election, winning two seats in the House of Representatives. In the 2019 provincial elections, it won the most seats out of any party, although 61 out of 86 representatives have since defected.
Provincial elections were held in the Netherlands on 20 March 2019. Eligible voters elected the members of the Provincial States in the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. The elections were held on the same day as the 2019 Dutch water boards elections and, in the Caribbean Netherlands, island council elections.
The electoral colleges for the Senate are the electoral colleges of the Caribbean Netherlands and Dutch expatriates. Their members together with the members of the provincial councils in the European Netherlands choose the Senators of the Dutch Senate.
Chris A. Jansen is a Dutch politician, who served as a member of the House of Representatives between November 2019 and March 2021 on behalf of the right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV).
Martijn N. Bolkestein is a Dutch politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives between July 2020 and March 2021. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
Hugo A. Berkhout is a Dutch currency specialist and politician. He has been a member of the Senate since October 2020. There, he represented the conservative and right-wing populist party Forum for Democracy until he stepped out of the party the following month amidst an internal crisis. He later joined the splinter party JA21.
Annabel Nanninga is a Dutch politician and journalist who was the co-founder of the JA21 party. She currently leads the party in the Senate and is a representative of the Provincial Council of North Holland. She has been a member of Amsterdam city council since 2018.
Leonie Vestering is a Dutch politician of the Party for the Animals (PvdD). She campaigned against circus animals, and she was a member of the States of Flevoland and the Almere municipal council. Vestering was elected to the House of Representatives in 2021 and went on sick leave in 2023.
An election to the Dutch Senate was held on 30 May 2023. The 75 members of the Senate were elected by members of the provincial councils and electoral colleges elected two months earlier in provincial and electoral college elections.
Provincial elections were held in the Netherlands on 15 March 2023, on the same day as the water board elections, as well as island council elections in the Caribbean Netherlands.
