The elections for the Dutch national parliament will be held soon! On the 17 of March Dutch citizens will be able to elect politicians of no less than 37 different parties, a record number in Dutch parliamentary history. The number of parties on the ballot has been slowly rising over the last few decades. In the last election in 2017, there were 28 parties on the ballot, before that in 2012 there were 21, and back in 2002, Dutch citizens had 16 to choose from.
Not only is the number of electable parties increasing, we also see politicians more easily consider seceding from their established parties to start new ones.
Although the Netherlands takes pride in its history of coalition forming and negotiating compromises, aka “Polderen”, the increasing fragmentation in Dutch political movements seems to be the result of a lack of agreement for common direction. Or is it?
In the upcoming CIA lecture we will look into the evolution of political representation in the Netherlands. Together with several experts in the fields of politics and demographics, we will explore: How it came to be that we have an increasing number of parties to choose from. How is this affecting Dutch politics? Could this result in pouring too much water with the wine? How is this trend influenced by changes in Dutch demographics, and how are new parties reflecting the interests of new groups in Dutch society? And last but not least, what are the effects of the occurring fragmentation for the future of Dutch politics?
This online event takes place on the 8th of March from 20:00 until 22:00. The link to the live stream will be provided by email.
You can sign up via the google form underneath:
The speakers will be announced soon! Hope to see you soon at “37 parties!?! Why the Netherlands Keeps Getting More”