States-Provincial

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The States-Provincial (Provinciale Staten, or PS - commonly known as simply the Staten, or States) is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each province of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has the responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance. Each States-Provincial is directly elected by the electors within the relevant province, and the size of each States-Provincial is relative to its number of inhabitants.

From 1813 to 1850 the noble members of the ridderschap chose one third of the members of States-Provincial. Johan Rudolf Thorbecke's reforms and his "Provinces Law" ("provinciewet") of 1850 brought this privilege to an end.

Before 11 March 2003, the States-Provincial had only been the administration (ie the executive government) of the province, but after that date it has become the collective of representatives within the province, whose principle role is to oversee the administration of most executive tasks. These tasks are now in the hands of the Gedeputeerde Staten, a provincial college elected every four years from the States-Provincial's members. The Gedeputeerde Staten and the States-Provincial are both presided over by that province's Commissaris van de Koningin or royal commissioner, appointed by the Crown every 6 years.

Soon after their election the combined members of the States-Provincial elect the members of the Eerste Kamer of the States-General of the Netherlands.

1 Number of seats in each States-Provincial
2 Elections by party by province
3 Seat distribution in the States-Provincial after the 2007 elections
4 See also
5 External links
6 Source

[edit] Number of seats in each States-Provincial

Before 2007, the size of a States-Provincial ranged from 39 members for a province with less than 200,000 inhabitants to 55 members for a province with more than 2,500,000 inhabitants. As a consequence of a change to the Provinciewet by the States-Provincial elections of 7 March 2007, the total number of States-Provincial members will be reduced from the present 764 to 564. The maximum size of a States-Provincial was reduced from 83 members to 55, for provinces with more than 2,000,000 inhabitants. The minimum size of 39 remained unchanged, but for provinces of less then 400,000 inhabitants (rather than the previous 200,000). A survey of the change in seats per province:

Province	Seats before 2007	Seats after 2007
Groningen	55	43
Friesland	55	43
Drenthe	51	41
Overijssel	63	47
Flevoland	47	39
Gelderland	75	53
Utrecht	63	47
Noord-Holland	83	55
Zuid-Holland	83	55
Zeeland	47	39
Noord-Brabant	79	55
Limburg	63	47
TOTAL	764	564

A consequence of this reduction in the number of seats is that the kiesdrempel (or minimum number of votes needed for a party to gain at least one seat in an assembly) will rise. Depending on the province, the kiesdrempel will lie between 1.5% and more than 2% of the votes. Because of this, it will become harder for small parties to win a seat. This may also have consequences for the representation of small parties in the Eerste Kamer.

[edit] Elections by party by province

Provincie	2003											2007
Provincie	CDA	PvdA	VVD	GL	SP	D66	CU	SGP	LPF	(overig)	totaal	CDA	PvdA	VVD	GL	SP	D66	CU	SGP	PvdD	(overig)	totaal
Groningen	12	20	7	5	3	2	4	0	0	2	55	9	12	5	3	7	1	4	0	1	1	43
Friesland	16	15	6	3	1	1	3		0	7+1+1+1	55	12	12	5	2	4	0	3	0	0	5	43
Drenthe	12	19	9	4	0	2	2	0	1	2	51	10	13	8	2	5	0	3	0	0	0	41
Overijssel	24	15	9	3	3	2	4	2	1	0	63	17	9	7	2	6	0	5	1	0	0	47
Flevoland	10	12	11	3	2	2	4	1	2	0	47	8	7	9	2	6	0	5	1	1	0	39
Gelderland	24	18	13	5	4	3	3	4	1	0	75	15	10	9	3	7	1	4	3	1	0	53
Utrecht	16	14	14	6	3	4	3	2	1	0	63	11	8	10	4	5	2	4	1	1	1	47
Noord-Holland	17	24	20	8	5	5	1		2	1	83	11	10	13	5	9	2	2		2	1	55
Zuid-Holland	20	20	18	5	4	4	3	4	4	1	83	13	10	12	3	8	1	4	2	1	1	55
Zeeland	13	10	7	2	2	1	3	6	0	1+2	47	10	6	6	2	5	0	3	5	0	2	39
Noord-Brabant	30	17	15	4	6	3	1		2	1	79	18	8	11	2	12	1	1		1	1	55
Limburg	28	14	9	3	4	2	0	0	1	2	63	18	8	7	2	9	1	0	0	1	1	47
Totaal	222	198	138	51	37	31	26+5	19+5	15	22	764	151	114	102	32	83	9	35+3	13+3	9	13	564

Due to defections from one party to another and other such reasons the number of seats can fluctuate during each inter-elections period. This table only shows the distribution straight after the elections.

The named 'overige' (majority party) for 2007 are:

in Groningen: PvhN (by 1 seat)
in Friesland: FNP (by 5 seats)
in Utrecht: Mooi Utrecht (by 1 seat)
in Noord-Holland: ONH/Verenigd Senioren Partij (by 1 seat)
in Zuid-Holland: Leefbaar Zuid-Holland (by 1 seat)
in Zeeland: PVZ (by 2 seats)
in Noord-Brabant: Brabantse Partij (by 1 seat)
in Limburg: PNL (by 1 seat)

[edit] Seat distribution in the States-Provincial after the 2007 elections

Statenverkiezingen means State-Provincial elections.

States-Provincial of Groningen	States-Provincial of Friesland	States-Provincial of Drenthe	States-Provincial of Overijssel
States-Provincial of Flevoland	States-Provincial of Gelderland	States-Provincial of Utrecht	States-Provincial of Noord-Holland
States-Provincial of Zuid-Holland	States-Provincial of Zeeland	States-Provincial of Noord-Brabant	States-Provincial of Limburg