Provincial elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 2 March 2011. 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 elected the Senate's 75 members in the Senate election on 23 May 2011.
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.
The States-Provincial 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 voters within the relevant province, and the number of seats in each States-Provincial is proportional to its population.
There are currently twelve provinces of the Netherlands, representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance.
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The Senate election, and therefore the provincial elections, were important since the First Rutte cabinet had a minority in the Senate when it took office. The coalition and support parties hoped to gain a majority in the Senate through these elections, but failed to do so, obtaining 37 out of 75 seats. However, it was expected that the small Christian party SGP, which obtained one seat, would support the cabinet. [1]
The First Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Verhagen cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 14 October 2010 until 5 November 2012. The cabinet was formed by the political parties People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) after the election of 2010. The right-wing cabinet was a minority government in the House of Representatives but was supported by the Party for Freedom (PVV) for a majority. It was the first of three cabinets of Mark Rutte, the Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy as Prime Minister, with Maxime Verhagen the Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal serving as Deputy Prime Minister.
The Reformed Political Party is an orthodox Calvinist political party in the Netherlands. The term Reformed is not a reference to political reform but is a synonym for Calvinism—a major branch of Protestantism. The SGP is the oldest political party in the Netherlands in its current form, and has for its entire existence been in opposition. The party has, owing to its orthodox political ideals and its traditional role in the opposition, been called a testimonial party. Since the general election of 2017, it has held 3 of the 150 seats of the House of Representatives.
On the same date, Island Council elections were held in the three public bodies of the Caribbean Netherlands. It was planned that the members of the Island Councils would also have a vote in the Senate election in the future, but in 2011 this was not yet the case because this required a change in the Constitution.
In the Netherlands, the term public body is the general denomination for administrative divisions within the Dutch state, such as the central government, a province, a municipality or a water board. These types of political entities are defined by the Dutch constitution.
The Caribbean Netherlands are the three special municipalities of the Netherlands that are located in the Caribbean Sea. They consist of the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, although the term "Caribbean Netherlands" is sometimes used to refer to all of the islands in the Dutch Caribbean. In legislation, the three islands are also known as the BES islands. The islands are currently classified as public bodies in the Netherlands and as overseas countries and territories of the European Union; thus, EU law does not automatically apply.
The Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands is one of two fundamental documents governing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as the fundamental law of the European territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is generally seen as directly derived from the one issued in 1815, constituting a constitutional monarchy; it is the third oldest constitution still in use worldwide.
