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Sun 2 Oct, 2005 09:00 am
In the Netherlands, we vote parties into a parliament of 150 seats. If these parties can then form a coalition of at least 76 seats (half +1), they get to weld a government. You can choose from the following parties:
Government parties:
CDA - Christen-Democratisch Appèl (Christian-Democratic Appeal)
Christian democrats, both catholics and protestants. Currently the biggest party of the Netherlands with 44 seats in parliament and supplied the PM, Jan-Peter Balkenende. A social-conservative party, very pro-EU, supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
VVD - Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy)
Liberal party, has both a conservative and a progressive wing. Supported gay-marriages strongly and want low taxes and low government spendings. Also very pro-European and supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
D66 - Democraten '66 (Democrats 1966)
Social-liberal party, probably the most secular party. Wants to break ties with the Vatican, arguing it wouldn't be fair towards other religions who don't have a special state-like institution. Currently have 6 seats in parliament (D66 was needed to form a government with CDA and VVD: 44 + 28 wasn't enough!) Pretty much the motor behind the gay's right to marry. Again, very pro-European Union and supported the invasion of Iraq - albeit with some reservedness.
Opposition Parties:
PvdA - Partij van de Arbeid (Labour Party)
Social-democrats, can be somewhat compared to Blair's Labour Party. Is the biggest opposition party with 42 seats in parliament, is doing very well in the polls (50 seats, making it the biggest party). Wants to spend more taxes on social benefits. Strong supporters of the European Union. Initially supported the invasion of Iraq, but before the actual invasion they retracted their support. They did, however, support the invasion of Afghanistan.
LPF - Lijst Pim Fortuyn (List Pim Fortuyn)
Less government, less taxes, more police. Very critical of islam. Their former leader, Pim Fortuyn, was one of the first people to openly criticize the religion of Islam for being intolerant, racist and discriminating against women and gays. Just before the 2002-elections, Pim Fortuyn was shot to death, his party got into parliament (and government) with 26 seats, which was unseen for a new party. However, the inexperienced members of LPF seemed 'unfit' to be in the government, so the other government parties (CDA & VVD) 'pulled the plug' out of the government, writing out new elections in january 2003. The LPF lost some seats but still has 8. Is expected to be 'wiped out' (0 seats) in the next elections. Very critical of the EU and supported the invasion of Iraq.
SP - Socialistische Partij (Socialist Party)
Started out as a maoist party in 1972, they are now leaning towards social-democracy. Currently have 9 seats in parliament. Want to establish an income tax of no less than 72%, are very critical of the EU, US and Israel. Opposed the invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan. Is doing fairly well in the polls, if elections were held today, they are expected to get around 15 seats (10% of the popular vote).
Groen-Links (Green-Left)
Want to establish an income tax of 70%, and want more attention for the situation of animals. Pro-European Union, but very critical of the US, mostly of the Republican Party. Opposed the invasion of Iraq, but supported the invasion of Afghanistan. Currently has 8 seats in parliament.
CU - ChristenUnie (Christian Union)
Combines a conservative view on social-issues, such as abortion and gay-marriage, and a social-democratic view on economic issues. Critical of the EU. Currently has 3 seats in parliament.
SGP - Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (Political Reformed Party)
Theocratic party, see no room in the Netherlands for other religions besides christianity. Are sometimes seen a 'radicals'. Women should not have public functions. Currently has 2 seats in parliament.
Groep Wilders (Group Wilders)
Geert Wilders was voted in parliament as a conservative member of the VVD. He split off in 2004 because he strongly opposed Turkey entering the EU. Is very critical of the EU, and also very critical of the religion of Islam. Wants to have a temporary immigration-ban for muslims, demanding the Netherlands should first deal with the problems with muslim-integration we have right now. Also wants to expel citizens with a double-passport (mostly Dutch Moroccans) when arrested for theft or violence-related crimes. Peaked in the polls (20%) during the aftermath of the Theo van Gogh-slaughter. His other views are less taxes and less government. His hero's include Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
Which party would you vote for, were you a Dutch citizen?
VVD, based on what I've read here.
Heh - great (or Dutch?) minds think alike - I recently started this thread:
What would you vote if you lived in ...?
Almost nobody mentioned Holland though, only Thomas, who said D'66.
Wonder where you got the party descriptions from, by the way. I agree with most of it, but I'd add/correct at least three things:
- It says that the Socialists "want to establish an income tax of no less than 72%" and that the Green Left "wants to establish an income tax of 70%".
This suggest that both parties want everybody to pay over 2/3rd of their income in taxes.
In reality, of course, what they are proposing is a top income tax rate of 72%/70%. The same top tax rate, in fact, that existed in Holland until the nineties.
Eg, the Socialists want a top tax rate of 72% for incomes over 226.890 euro (500.000 guilders) a year: 18.907 euro a month.
The Green Left goes further and wants to bring back a top tax rate of 70% for incomes over 100.000 euro (8.333 euro a month).
It also wants to increase the taxes paid in the two existing highest tax rates, but wants to lower the ones on the lowest two rates. The average citizen would gain 4% in purchasing power in the counter-budget the Green Left proposed for 2006, according to the independent calculations of the CPB.
- One of the most pronounced characteristics of the VVD, especially the last three years and under Bolkestein's leadership in the early/mid-nineties, is its fierce stand on immigration / integration.
For example, its most popular politician, Minister of Integration Rita Verdonk, has just proposed that immigrants with a legal residence permit who commit a crime should be sent back to their home country. Not just those who commited a serious crime (thats already possible), but those who commited a petty crime too.
Should at least merit a mention.
- Finally, gay marriage was hardly a D'66-specific cause. Labour and especially the Green Left had long argued for it too. The Green Left last year started a campaign on tolerance that controversially featured a North-African gay couple.
As you might have guessed from my gratuitous reference to how the average citizen would be better off under the Green Left budget, I myself vote Green Left ...
There's also a long-running thread here on Dutch politics by the way:
Elections in the Netherlands (again).
I once tried to write my own summary of the respective parties too... but it wasnt anything as organised as yours! This was it...:
nimh wrote:
Here they are again, from left to right. The scale starts quite far to the left of your liberals though, and ends just short of your conservative mainstream.
Code: 2003 Elections Feb 2005 Polls
SP Socialist Party 6% / 9 seats 9% / 14 seats
GL Green Left 5% / 8 seats 6% / 9 seats
PvdA Labour Party 27% / 42 seats 33% / 50 seats
PvdD Party for the Animals - 1% / 1 seat
D66 Democrats 4% / 6 seats 3% / 4 seats
CDA Christian-Democr'c Appeal 29% / 44 seats 21% / 32 seats
VVD Party f/Freedom & Dem'cy 18% / 28 seats 13% / 20 seats
CU Christian Union 2% / 3 seats 4% / 6 seats
SGP State Reformed Party 2% / 2 seats 2% / 2 seats
Group Wilders - 7% / 10 seats
LPF List Pim Fortuyn 6% / 8 seats 1% / 1 seat
Total 150 seats
Short descriptions:
SP: Traditional left, with a programme like 1970s Labour - but formerly a Maoist splinter
GL: Once a merger of radicals, socialists & ex-communists ("the small left"), has now come to head for merely a "social liberal" course
PvdA: Mainstream social-democratic party, centre-left.
PvdD: Err, yeah. For the animals.
D66: Formerly radical-democrat liberal party with a fetish for referendums and direct elections, now part of right-wing government
CDA: 1970s merger of Catholics and Protestants, oscillates between centrist and rightwing, long the mainstay of government (party of PM Balkenende)
VVD: Conservative liberal party; the abbreviation stands for People's Party for Freedom and Democracy [..]. It's originally a classical liberal party - ie, RIGHT-wing, but with a focus on capitalist, free market policies (low taxes, small government) and no interest whatsoever in christian/conservative/moral issues. Traditional constituency: the rich, businessmen, shopkeepers. But, being the most rightwing of the main parties in the country, its also always had a populist wing, which it has capitalised on lately through anti-immigration and -asylumseeker policies.
CU + SGP: Stringently Protestant parties, formerly grouped together as "the small right" (SGP'ers dont watch TV, play sports on Sunday, etc). [Anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-euthanasia, anti-drugs, etc.] Nowadays the CU's committment to the poor, asylum-seekers and development aid makes it seem centrist tho.
Group Wilders: Geert Wilders is the populist VVD dissident who was thrown out for all too firebrand anti-Muslim/immigrant rhetorics
LPF: Followers of Pim Fortuyn: urban, secular and (apparently) even republican, but still nostalgic for simpler times; anti-left, nationalist, anti-muslim, anti-asylum-seekers. Party is pro-market but working-class core voters are not necessarily.
Ack - because I quoted myself, the table didnt fit anymore and ended up looking very messy. But I think I corrected it now!
thanks for the clarifications, nimh. the way that liberal gets used outside of the u.s. confounds me on a regular basis.
so, i'd have to say, with your extra info, that i'd want to learn more about the pvda and the groen-links parties.
DontTreadOnMe wrote:so, i'd have to say, with your extra info, that i'd want to learn more about the pvda and the groen-links parties.
Eh, it's surprisingly difficult to quickly find something in English.
Neither party has English-language texts on its website, and the parties they're respectively part of in the European Parliament, the Party of European Socialists (PES) and the European Greens, have only summary info on member parties. That is, the PES has
practically nothing (dont bother), while the European Greens does feature a
party profile on the GreenLeft, but its focused more on its electoral ups and downs than on its programme.
Wikipedia has barely more info (but will do as a very basic intro):
Wiki on GreenLeft,
Wiki on Labour.
Here's something though: an article about the brand new basic, long-term party Manifesto of the Dutch Labour Party:
PvdA's new Manifesto of Principles: The missing link between New Labour and the Continental Social Democracy?
On a lighter note, I found this (gonna post it on the "What do you think Dutch people are like?" thread):
New survey underscores expat discontent in Holland ... very funny! (to me, anyway)
VVD, and I wish we had a viable analog in the U.S.
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