Dutch Parliament

The history of the States General goes back to the period of the Republic of the United Provinces (1588-1795). The States General at that time were the body in which the diverse independent provinces were represented. The States (or the provincial governments) appointed the representatives to the States General. Although the provinces relinquished some powers to the States General in this fashion, they largely remained selfgoverning.

The arrival of the French revolution in 1795 brought an end to the Republic. A national assembly was formed based on the French model. This was the first elected representative assembly in the Netherlands. The members of the National Assembly no longer represented the provinces, but the country as a whole. But shortly after, the Netherlands became a kingdom controlled by Napoleon, with his brother Lodewijk as a King. After the defeat of Napoleon, the European powers decided at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to embark on a major reconfiguration of European national boundaries. As a result, the northern Netherlands and the southern Netherlands, which is currently Belgium, were again united after more than two centuries to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The King came from the aristocratic family of Orange-Nassau, the same family from which the stadholders (viceroys) had come during the Republic.At the urging of the southern Netherlands, the new States General became a bicameral assembly. There was no question of a representative democracy. Electors and elected alike belonged to a select and elite company. Men were the sole members of this elite. To be enfranchised they had to comply with all kinds of conditions, one of which was payment of a minimum amount in taxes that served as an automatic indicator of their wealth.

 

Amendments to the constitution
Between 1814 and 1848 the members of the Senate were appointed by the King for life. They were selected from the upper echelons of society. For the King, the Senate was an instrument on which he could rely if the House of Representatives had passed legislation that was disagreeable to him. During this period there were various amendments to the constitution. The revision in 1840 incorporated the fact that Belgium had dissociated itself from the kingdom.

In 1848 the most radical amendment to the constitution in the Netherlands' history was introduced at the instigation of the lawyer and statesman Thorbecke (1798-1872). The main repercussion of this amendment was that responsibility for government policy came to rest with the ministers. The King became 'inviolable'. In addition, the House of Representatives acquired a series of important rights which led to a considerable increase in its controlling power: the right of amendment, the right of interpellation, the right to institute an inquiry, and the right to approve the budget. These rights created the basis for parliamentary democracy as we know it in the Netherlands.

Since 1848 the Netherlands' system of government has been defined as a constitutional monarchy, in which the power of the executive is limited by the constitution and in which the government is responsible to an elected parliament. The Dutch had to wait more than seventy years for universal suffrage. Both men and women have had the vote since 1919, in local, provincial and general elections. Nowadays every citizen aged eighteen and over can vote and can be elected as a representative. Elections for the House of Representatives usually take place every four years. The members are directly elected by the people. Members of the Senate are indirectly elected by the Provincial Councils (that is to say by the members of the twelve provincial parliaments).
More info on the Dutch Parliament

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