Dutch provincial elections, 2007

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Provincial elections were held in the Netherlands, on March 7, 2007. The election will also determine the members of the Eerste Kamer, since the 564 members of the twelve provincial councils elect its 75 members. This election is scheduled for May 29, 2007. and on June 12 , 2007 is the election for the new 75 members of the First Chamber.

1 Issues at stake
2 Turnout
3 Results
- 3.1 National

[edit] Issues at stake

Only a few weeks before the provincial elections, a new cabinet has been installed, the fourth Balkenende cabinet, consisting of the CDA, PvdA and CU. The provincial elections will be the first test for this new cabinet. Since the provincial councils elect the members of the Eerste Kamer, it is possible that the CDA, PvdA and CU will not obtain a majority in the Eerste Kamer. Since the members of the Eerste Kamer can reject new laws, the outcome of the provincial elections can seriously hamper the strength of the new cabinet.

[edit] Turnout

In recent years, the turnout for provincial elections were low, this year was no different. On 13:00, only 14% of the 12.1 milion eligible voters had casted a vote. On 16:00, about 25% had cast a vote, of the larger cities, The Hague was on the low side with less than 20%, and Groningen at the high side with 29%.

[edit] Results

The Socialist Party (SP), ChristianUnion (CU) and Party for the Animals showed the largest gains, all continuing their successful spell from the 2006 general election. The CDA, PvdA, D66, the LPF and SGP showed the largest losses, while the VVD and GreenLeft only had a marginal loss. The current government of CDA, PvdA and CU are expected to hold on to a majority in the Eerste Kamer (elections to be held in May), with 41 out of the 75 seats. Geert Wilders had already announced in January 2007 that his Party for Freedom would not take part in the elections, since it had not succeeded to be able to participate in all provinces. One important factor in comparing the 2003 and 2007 results is the fact that the number of members of each provincial legislature was lowered, from a maximum 73 to a maximum 55.

An example of a voting pass

[edit] National

Provincial Legislatures
Party	2003	2003 *	2007	difference **
CDA	222	169	151	-18
PvdA	198	150	114	-36
VVD	138	103	102	-1
SP	38	29	83	+54
ChristianUnion	29	22	38	+16
GreenLeft	51	37	32	-5
SGP	21	14	13	-1
D66	31	20	9	-11
PvdD	0	0	9	+9
Fortuyn	17	10	0	-10
Regionalist Parties***	19	10	13	+3
Totaal	764	564	564	0
Turnout	47,6 %	47,6 %	46,3 %	-1,3 %

Notes:
- *) 2003 election calculated for the 2007 number of seats (564).
- **) The difference between 2007 and the recalculated 2003 seats. - ***) Many linked to the Independent Senate Group