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House of Representatives (Netherlands) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Tweede kamer
The House of Representatives
Khadija Arib 2015
President of the House of Representatives Khadija Arib

The House of Representatives, Dutch: Tweede Kamer (literally Second Chamber), is the lower house of the States General, the Dutch parliament.

It is comparable with the House of Representatives in other countries, because it is chosen by direct elections.

It consists of 150 members, who are chosen every four years or earlier when the government has been brought down.

In contrast with the First Chamber the Second Chamber has extensive legislative powers.

General elections results 2017

The most recent general elections were held on Wednesday March 15, 2017. When the results were announced, the Labour Party (PvdA) lost many seats, while the winner, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) led by Mark Rutte, also lost seats, but not as many.

Most of the opposition parties won seats. The populist Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders didn't win as many seats as were expected of them, but they became second in the number of seats they had. More seats were won by (especially) GreenLeft (GL), Democrats 66 (D66), the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the Party for the Animals (PvdD), and 50PLUS (50+), along with the newly formed parties DENK and Forum for Democracy (FvD). The only other party to lose seats was the Socialist Party (SP), while the small Christian parties ChristianUnion (CU) and Reformed Political Party (SGP) did not gain or lose any seats.

Party Dutch name Shortened Parliamentary leader Original seats Seats
after changes
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie VVD Klaas Dijkhoff 33 32
Party for Freedom Partij voor de Vrijheid PVV Geert Wilders 20 20
Christian Democratic Appeal Christen-Democratisch Appèl CDA Pieter Heerma 19 19
Democrats 66 Democraten 66 D66 Rob Jetten 19 19
GreenLeft GroenLinks GL Jesse Klaver 14 14
Socialist Party Socialistische Partij SP Lilian Marijnissen 14 14
Labour Party Partij van de Arbeid PvdA Lilianne Ploumen 9 9
ChristianUnion ChristenUnie CU Gert-Jan Segers 5 5
Party for the Animals Partij voor de Dieren PvdD Esther Ouwehand 5 4
50PLUS 50PLUS 50+ Corrie van Brenk 4 3
Reformed Political Party Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij SGP Kees van der Staaij 3 3
DENK DENK DENK Farid Azarkan 3 3
Forum for Democracy Forum voor Democratie FvD Thierry Baudet 2 2
Member Van Haga Lid-Van Haga Wybren van Haga / 1
Member Van Kooten Lid-Van Kooten Femke Merel van Kooten / 1
Member Krol Lid-Krol Henk Krol / 1
Total 150 150

General elections results since 1946

Original seats in post-war Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer).
Coalitian parties marked in olive.
Prime Minister's party in bold.

Party 2017 2012 2010 2006 2003 2002 1998 1994 1989 1986 1982 1981 1977 1972 1971 1967 1965 1963 1959 1956 1952 1948 1946
VVD 33 41 31 22 28 24 38 31 22 27 36 26 28 22 16 17 16 16 19 13 9 8 6
* PvdV 6
PVV 20 15 24 9
CDA 19 13 21 41 44 43 29 34 54 54 45 48 49 48 58 69 76 76 75 77 51 54 53
* ARP 14 13 15 13 13 14 15 12 13 13
* CHU 7 10 12 13 13 12 13 9 9 8
* KVP 27 35 42 50 50 49 49 30 32 32
D66 19 12 10 3 6 7 14 24 12 9 6 17 8 6 11 7
GL 14 4 10 7 8 10 11 5 6 3 9 9 6 16 10 9 8 8 5 7 6 8 10
* CPN 3 3 2 7 6 5 4 4 3 7 6 8 10
* EVP 1
* PPR 2 2 3 3 7 2
* PSP 1 3 3 1 2 2 4 4 4 2
SP 14 15 15 25 9 9 5 2
PvdA 9 38 30 33 42 23 45 37 49 52 47 44 53 43 39 37 43 43 48 50 30 27 29
CU 5 5 5 6 3 4 5 5 3 2 3 3 1 2 2 1 1 1
* GPV 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1
* RPF 3 3 1 1 2 2
PvdD 5 2 2 2
50+ 4 2
SGP 3 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2
DENK 3
FvD 2
LPF 8 26
AOV 6
DS'70 1 6 8
BP 1 3 1 7 3 3
others 2 4 1 1 1 2 2 1
Total 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 100 100 100

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Generales para niños

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