Provincial council (Netherlands)

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The provincial council (Dutch: Provinciale Staten, PS), also known as the States-Provincial, is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has the responsibility for matters of sub-national or regional importance. The number of seats in a provincial council is proportional to its population.

The provincial councils originated as Estates assemblies in the Middle Ages, hence the name 'States Provincial'. From 1813 to 1850, the noble members of the ridderschap chose one-third of the members of the provincial councils. Johan Rudolf Thorbecke's reforms and his 'Provinces Law' (Provinciewet) of 1850 brought this privilege to an end.

The provincial council chooses the provincial executive, which is the executive organ of the province. Originally, the States Provincial themselves also had executive powers and chose the provincial executive from among their own members. On 11 March 2003, the two institutions split.

The principal roles of the provincial council have become to set general policies, represent the people, approve provincial legislation and the annual budget and to oversee the executive. Both the provincial executive and the provincial council are chaired by the King's Commissioner in the province, appointed by the monarch every six years.

The last provincial elections were held on 15 March 2023.

Three months after their election, the combined members of the States Provincial elect the members of the Senate of the States General of the Netherlands.

Number of seats in each provincial council[edit]

The size of the provincial councils ranges from 39 members for a province with less than 400,000 inhabitants to 55 members for a province with more than 2,000,000 inhabitants.

Before 2007, they ranged from 47 members for a province with less than 200,000 inhabitants to 83 members for a province with more than 2,500,000 inhabitants. As a consequence of a change to the Provinciewet, starting at the provincial elections of 7 March 2007, the total number of provincial councillors was reduced from 764 to 564. A survey of the change in seats per province:

Province Seats 2003 Seats 2007 Seats 2011 Seats 2015 Seats 2019 Seats 2023
Groningen 55 43 43 43 43 43
Friesland 55 43 43 43 43 43
Drenthe 51 41 41 41 41 43
Overijssel 63 47 47 47 47 47
Flevoland 47 39 39 41 41 41
Gelderland 75 53 55 55 55 55
Utrecht 63 47 47 49 49 49
North Holland 83 55 55 55 55 55
South Holland 83 55 55 55 55 55
Zeeland 47 39 39 39 39 39
North Brabant 79 55 55 55 55 55
Limburg 63 47 47 47 47 47
Total 764 564 566 570 570 572

A consequence of this reduction in the number of seats is that the election threshold (the minimum number of votes needed for a party to gain at least one seat in an assembly) has risen. Depending on the province, the threshold now lies between 1.5% and over 2% of the votes. Because of this, it has become harder for small parties to win a seat. This may also have consequences for the representation of small parties in the Senate, which is elected by the members of the States Provincial.

National results[edit]

Outcome of the provincial elections calculated at national level:

Political party 2003* 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) 137
Forum for Democracy (FvD) 86 15
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) 103 102 112 89 80 63
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) 169 151 86 89 72 43
GroenLinks (GL) 37 33 34 30 61 51
Labour Party (PvdA) 150 114 107 63 53 46
Party for Freedom (PVV) 0 69 66 40 34
Democrats 66 (D66) 20 9 42 67 40 32
Socialist Party (SP) 29 83 56 70 35 23
Christian Union (CU) 19 35 23 29 31 22
Party for the Animals (PvdD) 0 8 7 18 20 25
JA21 22
50Plus 0 0 9 14 17 8
Reformed Political Party (SGP) 13 13 12 18 14 16
Denk (DENK) 4 0
Volt 11
GroenLinks–PvdA[1] 6
CU – SGP[2] 4 3 1 2 1 1
Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) 10 0 - -
Regionalist parties 10 13 8 15 15 17
Total 564 564 566 570 570 572
Turnout 47.62% 46.40% 55.97% 47.76% 56.16% 58.80%

Note *: 2003 election calculated for the 2007 number of seats (564).

Elections by party by province[edit]

Provincial elections, 2003[edit]

Outcome of the 2003 Dutch provincial elections:

Province 2003
CDA PvdA VVD GL SP D66 CU SGP LPF (others) total
Groningen 12 20 7 5 3 2 4 0 0 2 55
Friesland 16 15 6 3 1 1 3 0 7+1+1+1 55
Drenthe 12 19 9 4 0 2 2 0 1 2 51
Overijssel 24 15 9 3 3 2 4 2 1 0 63
Flevoland 10 12 11 3 2 2 4 1 2 0 47
Gelderland 24 18 13 5 4 3 3 4 1 0 75
Utrecht 16 14 14 6 3 4 3 2 1 0 63
North Holland 17 24 20 8 5 5 1 2 1 83
South Holland 20 20 18 5 4 4 3 4 4 1 83
Zeeland 13 10 7 2 2 1 3 6 0 1+2 47
North Brabant 30 17 15 4 6 3 1 2 1 79
Limburg 28 14 9 3 4 2 0 0 1 2 63
Total 222 198 138 51 37 31 26+5 19+5 15 22 764

Provincial elections, 2007[edit]

Outcome of the 2007 Dutch provincial elections:

Province 2007
CDA PvdA VVD GL SP D66 CU SGP PvdD (others) total
Groningen 9 12 5 3 7 1 4 0 1 1 43
Friesland 12 12 5 2 4 0 3 0 0 5 43
Drenthe 10 13 8 2 5 0 3 0 0 0 41
Overijssel 17 9 7 2 6 0 5 1 0 0 47
Flevoland 8 7 9 2 6 0 5 1 1 0 39
Gelderland 15 10 9 3 7 1 4 3 1 0 53
Utrecht 11 8 10 4 5 2 4 1 1 1 47
North Holland 11 10 13 5 9 2 2 2 1 55
South Holland 13 10 12 3 8 1 4 2 1 1 55
Zeeland 10 6 6 2 5 0 3 5 0 2 39
North Brabant 18 8 11 2 12 1 1 1 1 55
Limburg 18 8 7 2 9 1 0 0 1 1 47
Total 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 'others' for 2007 are:

Provincial elections, 2011[edit]

Outcome of the 2011 Dutch provincial elections:

Province 2011
CDA PvdA VVD GL SP D66 CU SGP PvdD PVV 50+ (others) total
Groningen 5 12 6 3 6 3 3 0 1 3 0 1 43
Friesland 8 11 6 2 3 2 3 0 0 4 0 4 43
Drenthe 6 12 9 2 4 2 2 0 0 4 0 0 41
Overijssel 11 9 8 2 4 3 3 2 0 4 1 0 47
Flevoland 4 6 9 2 3 3 3 1 1 6 1 0 39
Gelderland 9 9 11 4 5 4 3 2 1 6 1 0 55
Utrecht 6 7 11 4 4 5 2 1 1 5 1 0 47
North Holland 5 11 13 5 5 6 1 1 6 1 1 55
South Holland 6 10 12 3 5 5 2 2 1 8 1 0 55
Zeeland 6 7 7 1 3 2 2 4 0 5 0 2 39
North Brabant 10 7 12 3 8 5 0 1 8 1 0 55
Limburg 10 6 8 3 6 2 0 0 0 10 2 0 47
Total 86 107 112 34 56 42 23+1 12+1 7 69 9 8 566

The named 'others' for 2011 are:

  • in Groningen: PvhN (by 1 seat)
  • in Friesland: FNP (by 4 seats)
  • in North Holland: ONH (by 1 seat)
  • in Zeeland: PvZ (by 2 seats)

Provincial elections, 2015[edit]

Outcome of the 2015 Dutch provincial elections:

Province 2015
CDA PvdA VVD GL SP D66 CU SGP PvdD PVV 50+ (others) total
Groningen 5 6 4 3 8 4 4 2 3 3+1 43
Friesland 9 7 5 1 5 3 3 1 4 1 4 43
Drenthe 6 7 7 2 5 4 3 0 5 1 1 41
Overijssel 11 5 6 2 5 5 4 2 1 5 1 0 47
Flevoland 5 3 7 2 5 4 3 2 2 6 2 0 41
Gelderland 9 6 9 3 6 7 4 3 2 5 1 0 55
Utrecht 6 5 9 4 4 9 3 2 2 4 1 0 49
North Holland 5 7 11 4 6 10 1 3 6 1 1 55
South Holland 7 5 10 3 5 7 3 3 2 8 2 0 55
Zeeland 6 4 6 1 4 3 2 6 4 1 1+1 39
North Brabant 9 4 10 3 9 7 1 2 7 2 1 55
Limburg 11 4 5 2 8 4 1 9 1 1+1 47
Total 89 63 89 30 70 67 29+2 18+2 18 66 14 15 570

The named 'others' for 2015 are:

Provincial elections, 2019[edit]

Outcome of the 2019 Dutch provincial elections:

Province 2019
FVD CDA PvdA VVD GL SP D66 CU SGP PvdD PVV 50+ DENK (others) total
Groningen 5 3 5 4 6 4 3 4 1 2 1 3+2 43
Friesland 6 8 6 4 3 2 2 3 1 3 1 4 43
Drenthe 6 5 6 6 4 3 2 3 1 3 1 1 41
Overijssel 6 9 4 6 5 3 3 4 2 1 3 1 47
Flevoland 8 3 3 6 4 2 2 3 1 2 4 2 1 41
Gelderland 8 7 5 8 6 3 4 4 3 2 3 2 55
Utrecht 6 5 4 8 8 2 5 4 1 2 2 1 1 49
North Holland 9 4 6 9 9 3 6 1 3 3 1[3] 1 55
South Holland 11 4 4 10 5 2 5 3 2 2 4 2 1 55
Zeeland 5 7 4 4 2 2 1 2 5 1 2 2 2 39
North Brabant 9 8 3 10 5 5 5 1 2 4 2 1 55
Limburg 7 9 3 5 4 4 3 2 7 1 2 47
Total 86 72 53 80 61 35 41 31+1 14+1 20 40 17 4 15 570

The named 'others' for 2019 are:

Provincial elections, 2023[edit]

Outcome of the 2023 Dutch provincial elections:

Province 2023
BBB CDA VVD PvdA GL SP D66 CU SGP PvdD PVV FVD 50+ JA21 Volt (others) total
Groningen 12 2 2 5 5 2 2 3 2 2 1 1 3+1 43
Friesland 14 4 3 5 3 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 4+1 43
Drenthe 17 3 4 4 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 43
Overijssel 17 4 4 3 4 1 2 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 47
Flevoland 10 2 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 2 1 41
Gelderland 14 4 6 5 5 2 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 2 2 55
Utrecht 7 4 6 3 7 1 5 3 2 3 2 1 1 2 2 49
North Holland 8 2 8 7 7 2 4 1 4 3 2 2 3 2 55
South Holland 8 4 8 4 6 2 4 2 2 3 4 2 1 4 1 55
Zeeland 9 5 4 6 1 1 1 5 1 2 1 1 2 39
North Brabant 11 4 9 4 5 4 4 1 2 4 1 1 2 1 2 55
Limburg 10 5 5 3 4 3 3 2 6 1 1 2 2 47
Total 137 43 63 46+6 51+6 23 32 22+1 16+1 25 34 15 8 22 11 17 572

The named 'others' for 2023 are:

  • in Groningen: Groninger Belang (by 3 seats), PvhN (by 1 seat)
  • in Friesland: FNP (by 4 seats), Provincial Interests Frisia (by 1 seat)
  • in Drenthe: Sterk Lokaal (by 1 seat)
  • in Flevoland: Strong Local Flevoland (by 1 seat)
  • in Zeeland: PvZ (by 2 seats)
  • in North Brabant: Lokaal Brabant (by 1 seat)
  • in Limburg: Lokaal-Limburg (by 2 seats)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Combinated list in Zeeland.
  2. ^ Combinated list in two provinces (North Holland and North Brabant, also Friesland in 2003).
  3. ^ Combined list with Party of the Elderly.

External links[edit]