Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act referendum, 2018

Last updated
Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act 2017 referendum
Location Netherlands
Date 21 March 2018
Results
Votes%
For3,122,62846.53%
Against3,317,49649.44%
Blank votes270,2884.03%
Valid votes6,710,41299.65%
Invalid votes23,8130.35%
Total votes6,734,225100.00%
Eligible to vote/turnout13,064,93251.54%
Results by municipality
Niederlande Referendum 2018.svg
  For    Against

A consultative referendum on the Intelligence and Security Services Act 2017 was held in the Netherlands on 21 March 2018 alongside with the municipal elections. It was the second referendum to be held under the Dutch Consultative Referendum Act after the 2016 Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum.

Referendums in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, from the entry into force of the Advisory Referendum Act on 1 July 2015, until its repeal on 18 February 2018, most types of primary laws could be subjected to a suspensory, non-binding referendum if requested shortly after royal assent and subsequent proclamation. If a law was rejected by more than half of the votes cast, with a mandatory turnout of at least 30%, its entry into force was be suspended indefinitely and a follow-up law had to be enacted that either repealed the law or provided for its entry into force.

Netherlands Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe

The Netherlands is a country located mainly in Northwestern Europe. The European portion of the Netherlands consists of twelve separate provinces that border Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, with maritime borders in the North Sea with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. Together with three island territories in the Caribbean Sea—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba— it forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The official language is Dutch, but a secondary official language in the province of Friesland is West Frisian.

Contents

A plurality of voters (49.44%) voted against the law, resulting in its rejection. Voter turnout was 51.5%, above the 30% threshold for validation of the result. [1] Although the referendum itself was non-binding, Prime Minister Mark Rutte had promised to take the No vote into account prior to the referendum. [2]

Prime Minister of the Netherlands chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands is the head of the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands in his quality of chair of the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister is de facto the head of government of the Netherlands and coordinates its policy with his cabinet. The current Dutch Prime Minister is Mark Rutte, in office since 2010.

Mark Rutte Prime Minister of the Netherlands

Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician serving as the 50th and current Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy since 2006. Rutte was previously appointed as State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment from 22 July 2002 to 17 June 2004 and as State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science from 17 June 2004 until 27 June 2006, when he was elected to succeed Jozias van Aartsen as the new VVD Leader.

Background

The draft Intelligence and Security Agencies Act 2017 was laid before the States General by the Government of the Netherlands at the end of 2016. On 14 February 2017, a majority in the House of Representatives voted in support of the act, [3] which was then approved in the Senate on 11 July. [4] Although a referendum will be held, the government has indicated it plans for the law to nevertheless to go into effect on 1 May 2018. [5]

House of Representatives (Netherlands) lower house of the Netherlands

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. It has 150 seats which are filled through elections using a party-list proportional representation. It sits in the Binnenhof in The Hague.

Senate (Netherlands) upper house of the Netherlands

The Senate is the upper house of the States General, the legislature of the Netherlands. Its 75 members are elected on lists by the members of the twelve States-Provincial and three Caribbean electoral colleges for the Senate every four years, within three months of the provincial elections. All provinces and colleges have different electoral weight depending on their population.

Request

StageRequiredReceivedValid
Preliminary requests10,00019,26617,162 [6]
Definitive requests300,000417,354384,126 [7]

A campaign to obtain sufficient support declarations for a referendum was initiated by a group of students at the University of Amsterdam concerned about the sweeping surveillance powers granted to the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) under the law. [5] On 1 November 2017, the Electoral Council (Kiesraad) announced that a sufficient number of signatures had been collected to trigger an advisory referendum on the tapping law, with 384,126 valid signatures, over 92 percent of those collected, well above the 300,000 required for a referendum. [8]

University of Amsterdam university in Amsterdam

The University of Amsterdam is a public university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being the VU University Amsterdam (VU). Established in 1632 by municipal authorities and later renamed for the city of Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam is the third-oldest university in the Netherlands. It is one of the largest research universities in Europe with 31,186 students, 4,794 staff, 1,340 PhD students and an annual budget of €600 million. It is the largest university in the Netherlands by enrollment. The main campus is located in central Amsterdam, with a few faculties located in adjacent boroughs. The university is organised into seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Science, Law, Medicine, and Dentistry.

General Intelligence and Security Service

The General Intelligence and Security Service is the Intelligence and Security agency of the Netherlands, tasked with Domestic, Foreign and Signals Intelligence and protecting national security.

Party positions

The referendum comes after the formation of the Third Rutte cabinet following the 2017 general election, [8] with the coalition divided whether to hold a referendum on the law, Democrats 66 (D66) being the only one of the four coalition parties that voted against when it came to a vote in the lower chamber. [9]

Third Rutte cabinet Coalition in Dutch government, 2017

The Third Rutte cabinet is the cabinet of the Netherlands since 26 October 2017. It is formed by a coalition government of the political parties People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Democrats 66 (D66) and Christian Union (CU) after the Dutch general election of 2017.

Democrats 66 Dutch political party

Democrats 66 is a social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. Its name originates from the year in which it was founded.

The party positions listed below are based on the vote of the law in the House of Representatives on 14 February 2017, with the exception of Forum for Democracy (FvD), which was not represented in the lower chamber before the 2017 general election. [10]

Forum for Democracy (Netherlands) Dutch political party

Forum for Democracy is a conservative, Eurosceptic political party in the Netherlands, founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet who has been the party's leader since its founding in late 2016.

PartyCurrent seatsPosition
VVD People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie
33 / 150
For
PVV Party for Freedom
Partij voor de Vrijheid
20 / 150
For*
CDA Christian Democratic Appeal
Christen-Democratisch Appèl
19 / 150
For
D66 Democrats 66
Democraten 66
19 / 150
For
GL GroenLinks
14 / 150
Against
SP Socialist Party
Socialistische Partij
14 / 150
Against
PvdA Labour Party
Partij van de Arbeid
9 / 150
For
CU Christian Union
ChristenUnie
5 / 150
For
PvdD Party for the Animals
Partij voor de Dieren
5 / 150
Against
50+ 50PLUS
4 / 150
For
SGP Reformed Political Party
Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij
3 / 150
For
DENK Denk
3 / 150
Against
FvD Forum for Democracy
Forum voor Democratie
2 / 150
Against

* PVV announced that even though they voted in favour, they would respect the outcome of the referendum.

Opinion polls

Vote in referendum

Polling firmDateForAgainstDon't knowWill not voteLead
Ipsos 20 Mar 2018533413–19
I&O Research 12 Mar 2018513019–21
Peil.nl 11 Mar 2018454213–3
Kantar Public 4 Mar 20183524261510
Ipsos 26 Feb 2018483220–16
I&O Research 6 Feb 2018422830–14
Kantar Public 28 Jan 20183222301610
Peil.nl 3 Dec 20174060––20
I&O Research 30 Oct 2017523217–20
I&O Research 9 Oct 2017503020–20
I&O Research 11 Sep 2017602417–36

Support for the law

Polling firmDateForAgainstDon't knowLead
GfK 31 Oct 201734531319
GfK 23 Oct 20174049119

Results

Results by province Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act referendum, 2018 Provincial Results Map.png
Results by province
ChoiceVotes%
For3,122,62846.53
Against3,317,49649.44
Blank270,2884.03
Invalid votes23,813–
Total6,734,225100
Registered voters/turnout13,064,93251.54
Source: Kiesraad

Results by province or territory

Province or territoryElectorateVoter turnoutIn favourAgainstBlank
Votes%Votes%Votes%
Flag Drenthe.svg  Drenthe 387,61154.1699,78747.72100,85048.238,4724.05
Flevolandflag.svg  Flevoland 297,20650.2867,37745.2477,16851.814,3902.95
Frisian flag.svg  Friesland 504,85542.8097,59445.30111,04951.556,7793.15
Gelderland-Flag.svg  Gelderland 1,602,01654.19415,20748.01411,92447.6337,7374.36
Flag of Groningen.svg  Groningen 458,13137.2261,20035.97105,00961.723,9162.30
NL-LimburgVlag.svg  Limburg 873,20150.23206,90147.33209,89148.0220,3104.65
North Brabant-Flag.svg  North Brabant 1,947,97348.43469,11549.90430,93245.8440,0324.26
Flag North-Holland, Netherlands.svg  North Holland 2,075,43652.87453,84041.51598,60654.7540,9273.74
Flag of Overijssel.svg  Overijssel 882,34456.92247,30949.41230,93046.1422,3114.46
Utrecht (province)-Flag.svg  Utrecht 969,42157.65253,20845.46278,93550.0824,8634.46
Flag of Zeeland.svg  Zeeland 291,51456.7088,95054.0269,17442.016,5363.97
Flag Zuid-Holland.svg  South Holland 2,760,06551.22661,82247.00692,44349.1754,0093.84
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Caribbean Netherlands 15,1596.0631834.9858564.3660.66
Source: Kiesraad

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References

  1. ↑ Results referendum on Wiv: majority against Kiesraad
  2. ↑ "Dutch referendum: Spy tapping powers 'rejected'". BBC. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  3. ↑ "Tweede Kamer stemt voor 'aftapwet' inlichtingendiensten". Algemeen Dagblad. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  4. ↑ "Nieuwe Wet op de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten is een feit". Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Raadgevend referendum over 'aftapwet' komt er". NOS. 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "Inleidend verzoek referendum over Wiv toegelaten". Kiesraad. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Referendum over Wiv gaat door". Kiesraad. 1 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  8. 1 2 "Nederland gaat stemmen over 'sleepwet'". Trouw. 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Lennart Zandbergen (28 October 2017). "CDA en D66 oneens over betekenis referendum 'sleepwet'". Het Financieele Dagblad. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  10. ↑ Referendum over sleepwet (PDF) (Report). I&O Research. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
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