Dutch Politics

At Gérald's request, a little bit more explanation on the Dutch elections.

The Netherlands have a 100% proportional electoral system: when a party gets 0.8% of the votes, it also gets 0.8% of the seats. To my knowledge only Israel uses the same system.
In practice this means that many parties are elected in parliament, unlike e.g. the U.S. and the U.K. This year representatives from ten parties were elected, amongst them 2 newcomers: the far right Freedom Party (anti-immigration, anti-muslim) and the Party for Animals (the first elected animal rights party in the world).
A government - in principle - needs a majority support in Parliament. Therefore, relatively small parties can have considerable power in the bargain for a new government.

This year's election featured huge losses for the Liberal Democrats (VVD) and the Social Democrats (PvdA) and victories for the Socialist Party (SP), the Freedom Party (PvdV), and the Christian Union. The Christian Democrats (CDA), remained the biggest party in the parliament, ensuring another term for Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende (photo). The CDA will now take the lead in negotiating a new majority government.

Since no party seems to want to govern with the anti-immigration party (Freedom Party), more or less two majority coalitions are viable: Christian Democrats - Social Democrats - Socialists; and Christian Democrats - Social Democrats - Christian union.

The first option (Christian democrats - Social democrats - Socialists; or, the "Centre Left Coalition") would be most viable according to statistics. After all, the Socialists were the big winners in these elections, they almost tripled their number of seats in Parliament. Altogether, this coalition would hold 95 seats out of 150 in Parliament. However, the Christian Democrats are not too keen on governing with the ex-Maoists. Since 2002 (the Pim Fortuyn assassination), the Christian Democrats have moved into a more liberal conservative direction, displaying great faith in dynamics of market coordination. The Socialist Party has always fiercely opposed market ideology. Although the Socialist Party has moderated its stances, the differences on - especially - social-economic policies are rather big.

The second option (Christian Democrats - Social Democrats - Christian Union; or, the "Christian-Social Coalition") would command 79 out of 150 seats in Parliament. The Christian Union (CU) is probably the favoured coalition partner for the Christian Democrats (CDA), although the CU has strongly opposed the former (CDA-VVD) government on social-economic and migration issues. Generally, the Protestant-Christian CU is known to be more progressive on social issues, migration and the environment, however CU is more conservative and orthodox on moral issues (such as trade in ['soft'] drugs, euthanasia, and abortion). The CU is avowedly Bible inpired, whereas the Christian Democrats are more of a European-style catch-all people's party.
The biggest hurdle for this coalition, seems to be the fact that the Social Democrats prefer the Socialist Party as a partner, fearing another defeat in the next elections if the SP stays in parliamentary opposition.

elections,Netherlands,politics,news

ChristenUnie Doubles Seats in Parliament!

The ChristenUnie party has won 6 seats in the Dutch parliament. What's more: the ChristenUnie is a serious coalition candidate to form a majority government with the biggest party (the Christian Democrats - CDA) and the Labour Party (PvdA)! Chances are high that negotiations to include other winners in a majority government, the far left Socialist Party (SP) and the extreme right, anti-Islamic Freedom Party (PvdV), will soon scatter. This would mean that - for the first time in decades - a pronounced Christ following political group will take part in the Dutch government!*

I expect that in the negotiations to form a new majority government, the ChristenUnie will emphasise better care for the socially weak; a better environment and sustainable development (i.e. renewable energy); better protection of (born and unborn) life; and a ban on 'Coffee Shops'(Hash & Marihuana stores) and 'Smart Shops' (shops for hallucinating drugs and stimulants) near schools.
Other issues that deserve attention are: the Netherlands as a safe haven for refugees; human trafficking; and international development (development aid).

*Of course, there are also Christ followers in the Christian Democratic Party, but the party itself is a typical European style catch-all people's party.

elections,Dutch,ChristenUnie,2006

Back Blogging

More than half a month I quit blogging. On the one hand I didn't have much to share with the world (or at least the few people who visit this blog). On the other hand, I was quite busy with work and campaigning for the ChristenUnie party. Elections are next week (22 November). According to the last opinion polls ChristenUnie will double the current number of seats!
Today I debated at an event by a Chinese minorities interest organisation. My opponent was the State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science. Actually, we mostly agreed on the topic of education. It was an interesting experience, my first election debate!
Currently, there's no Chinese MP, although there's one Chinese candidate of a radical right (!) party. So I think there's a great opportunity for other political parties to put Chinese candidates forward. It will not be me though. I have an interesting position (researcher of international environmental politics), and I stay there for the next three years. Afterwards,... we'll see. Until then: STEM STRATEGISCH, STEM CHRISTENUNIE!

ChristenUnie,Chinese,politics,elections