Second Chamber of the States General

Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal
*Second Chamber of the States General*
Basic data
Seat:	Binnenhof , ; The Hague
Legislative period :	4 years
First session:	1815
MPs:	150
Current legislative period
Last choice:	15th March 2017
Chair:	Khadija Arib ( PvdA )
Distribution of seats:	Government (75) VVD 32; CDA 19; D66 19; CU 5; Opposition (75) PVV 20; GL 14; SP 14; PvdA 9; PvdD 4; 50PLUS 3; SGP 3; Think 3; FVD 2; Independent 3;
	Website
	www.tweedekamer.nl

Plenary Chamber of the Second Chamber

The Second Chamber of the States General ( Dutch : Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal , pronunciation ^?^/^I ) is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of the Netherlands . It is usually elected every four years by Dutch citizens over the age of 18, based on almost purely proportional representation . The Chamber always has 150 seats and meets in The Hague .

The Second Chamber is the actual legislative body, while the First Chamber of the States General can only approve or reject bills. The political balance of power in the Second Chamber is crucial for the formation of a government, and since 2012 the Second Chamber (previously the Queen) has appointed a person who is entrusted with the composition of the cabinet.

The chairman has been Khadija Arib from the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) since January 13, 2016 .

Tasks and organization

The second chamber is the more important of the parliamentary chambers. The MPs advise and pass laws and control the government. Members of the government are not allowed to hold a parliamentary mandate, unless the government only serves on a provisional basis until a successor government is appointed.

If there is a vacancy on the High Council (Hoge Raad der Nederlanden), the highest Dutch court, the Second Chamber of Government makes three proposals for its occupation. The Chamber also elects the Ombudsman of the Netherlands.

By 1983 the Chamber had presented the Crown with a list of three candidates for the chairmanship of the Chamber, from which the Crown selected one. In practice, this was usually the first name. Since then, however , the Tweede Kamervoorzitter has been determined directly by the MPs in a secret ballot. Although this is traditionally the candidate of the largest political group, in recent years candidates from other political groups have often received a majority. On March 29, 2017, Khadija Arib from the seventh strongest Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) was elected chairman of the chamber.

The chairman and his deputy together form the presidium , which determines the working methods and planning of the chamber. Under the Presidium, Griffier works as head of administration.

Distribution of seats

15 parliamentary groups have existed since 2019:

logo	Political party	Alignment	Group leader	Seats
logo	Political party	Alignment	Group leader	after the election	current	+/-
	Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD) People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	right-wing liberal	Klaas Dijkhoff	33	32	1
	Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) Party for Freedom	right-wing populist	Geert Wilders	20th	20th
	Christen Democratisch Appèl (CDA) Christian Democratic Appeal	Christian Democratic	Pieter Heerma	19th	19th
	Democrats 66 (D66) Democrats 66	social liberal	Rob Jetten	19th	19th
	GroenLinks (GL) GreenLinks	green	Jesse Klaver	14th	14th
	Socialist Partij (SP) Socialist Party	Left	Lilian Marijhnen	14th	14th
	Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) Labor Party	social democratic	Lodewijk Asscher	09	09
	ChristenUnie (CU) ChristenUnion	Christian Democratic , Calvinist	Gert-Jan Segers	05	05
	Partij voor de Dieren (PvdD) Party for the animals	Animal rights	Esther Ouwehand	05	04th	1
	50PLUS (50+)	Interests of the older generation	Corrie van Brenk	04th	03	1
	Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (SGP) Reformed Political Party	radically conservative , Calvinist	Kees van der Staaij	03	03
	DENK (DENK) think / equivalent (from Turkish )	Interests of migrants	Farid Azarkan	03	03
	Forum voor Democratie (FVD) Forum for Democracy	EU-skeptical , right-wing populist	Thierry Baudet	02	02
	Groep Krol (Groep Krol)		Henk Krol	-	01	1
	Lid Van Haga (LvHA)	liberal	Wybren van Haga excluded from the VVD group	-	01	1
	Groep Van Kooten-Arissen (Groep vKA)		Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen	-	01	1
total				150	150

On average between 1994 and 2010, 9.8 parties were represented in the Chamber (counted at the beginning of each legislative period).

Parliamentary manners

Chamber seen from the chairman's desk

In the Second Chamber, the members do not address each other directly, but always through the chairman. So in the chamber one does not hear the address "Dear Sir or Madam"; the chairman (or chairperson) is formally the only person who is addressed: Voorzitter , possibly Meneer de Voorzitter or Mevrouw de Voorzitter (generic masculine form), the feminine form voorzitster is not used.

A member of parliament who, for example, wants to put a question to a minister, steps up to the desk for the interruptie , turns formally to the chairman and speaks of the minister in the third person. In practice, however, the salutation Voorzitter is often left out , especially in the case of an interruptie , and ministers and MPs speak more or less directly to one another.

The meetings of the chamber are tightly organized, there are no interfering calls. However, many interrupties can cause long meetings, although the chairman tries not to let them get out of hand with too many inquiries.

Web links

Commons : Tweede Kamer - collection of images, videos and audio files

Official website (Dutch)
- Information in English
Seating arrangement in the Second Chamber (Dutch)

Individual evidence

↑ Second Chamber: Fracties
↑ Tweedekamer.nl , accessed on May 21, 2010.

52.079722222222 4.3147222222222Coordinates: 52 ° 4 ′ 47 " N , 4 ° 18 ′ 53" E

[1] Second Chamber: Fracties

[2] Tweedekamer.nl , accessed on May 21, 2010.