The new political party BoerBurgerBeweging ( BBB ), founded in 2019 by figurehead Caroline van der Plas, achieved overwhelming success in the Provincial and Upper House elections. Out of nowhere, the party immediately wins 15 seats ( out of 75 ) in the First Chamber and also won the most votes in every province. In some provinces, 1 out of 3 citizens voted for BBB. All other parties suffer big losses ( FVD the most of all, it loses 10 seats and barely gets 2 ). The final results will be known on March 17, 2023.
Party leaders of BBB have stated to the press that they are wondering what happened and still cannot believe that they won the elections by arm's length. That, for sure, is a witticism of sorts. Of course they do know, very well in fact, what happened.
Citizens have launched a clear signal that they have had enough of the neo-liberal Rutte government that wants to wring the neck of agriculture, close more than 3,000 farms and strangle those that remain with absurd nitrogen standards. Moreover, citizens have not yet, even by far, digested that and how civilian police has beaten up farmers and sympathizers civilians during the many demonstrations and rallies. Shorly before the elections, video footage went viral of a citizen who had the misfortune to be present at the scene when he was attacked, bitten and dragged across the soil by a police dog who was not called to order. Disrespectful, crude, degrading and unworthy of both the police force and the government that ordered it.
BBB has every reason to celebrate. " We are going to clean up the house! " they say and no doubt they will.
How does the political system work in the Netherlands ?
The States General (the Dutch parliament) consists of an Upper and Lower House that represent the entire Dutch people. At least this is what they are supposed to do.
The First Chamber consists of 75 members of parliament/people's representatives who are elected for 4 years based on the proportionality rules from the electoral list of each political party, according to the election results and the distribution of seats.
The members of the First Chamber are elected indirectly : first the citizens elect the members of the Provincial States ( that's what happened now ) and the elected people per province then elect the First Chamber members.
Upper House members are members of the faction of the party that appoints them. They vote without "charges" and in that sense are independent. However, political considerations play an important role in their judgment and, for obvious reasons, these are usually the same as those of their party.
Upper House members cannot be prosecuted or taken to court for what they bring to the Upper House, orally or in writing. Ministers and secretaries of state may not be members of the Upper House.
The Second Chamber consists of 150 MPs/people's representatives who are also elected on the basis of proportional representation in principle for a period of 4 years through the list of candidates of each political party.
Members of the House of Representatives control the government and act as co-legislators. They also vote without "charges" under the Constitution, making them fundamentally independent of the views of their party.
The elected members of the Provincial Council have a great influence on appointments in the Second Chamber. After all, they are the only ones directly elected by the people to whom they are therefore accountable.
With the advent of BBB, the political landscape in the Netherlands may well be significantly redrawn in a near future. The parties who now wave the scepter on federal level have lost a lot their wings. It is unlikely that they will be able to make up for this by the next federal elections. Public discontent is so great that they shall not venture to manipulate the next elections.
In these links you will find the election results by province :
More info on the party and its positions :
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