A few days ago I wrote an article on the Dutch elections. Somebody asked me to give some more background on the Dutch election process.
Instead of writing a complete article myself, I found a good article on Wikipedia.
But is a bit too easy for me and I will add some other interesting facts, including the latest update.
Until this year we had voting computers in every district but a group of people discovered that some of these voting machines were not safe and could be subject to hacking. With a certain electronic device, hackers could read, from 5 to 10 meters distance, what somebody voted. So in some districts people used plain old paper and red pencils to bring out their votes. In other districts we used different types of voting machines.
Interesting to know is that people who live abroad and who are not able to vote in the Netherlands, could vote over the internet. I can't imagine this being 100% safe and secure. But this is probably not something that a lot of people knew and nobody complained.
Voting is not mandatory in the Netherlands, everybody decides whether or not they bring out their vote. A few weeks before the actual voting takes place, everybody who is allowed to vote, receives a 'stembiljet', a piece of paper or certificate if you want, in their mailbox. You bring this Stem biljet with you including an identification and you can vote. You also have the possibility to vote in another district but you must go to your Townhall first to get a different type of stembiljet.
Now, for the latest update. As you have read before in another article, all party leaders adviced the queen on the next steps to be taken. The queen decided last Sunday that someone in the CDA, the party where most people voted on, will get the assignment to organize initial discussions with all political leaders.
This person, Rein Jan Hoekstra (see photo), needs a few weeks to talk to all the major political parties and he has to find out what coalitions will be possible. A hard job and we are wondering if there will be any coalitions possible. Some people, including myself, think we face new elections not to far from now.
I hope this article sheds some more light on the Dutch voting process. To be continued!
Jos
Closing the gap...from the Netherlands
http://www.josjaspers.nl
Monday, November 27, 2006
Elections in the Netherlands - Part II
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2 comments:
Hello Jos,
Thank you for the election update. I find the distrust of electonic voting to be interesting as so many officials want to move that way. We have had reports of problems in my country and I don't think anyone believes that internet voting could ever be protected from tampering.
Also I am learning more about the parliment type of government from your posts and Miss Eagle's posts. Having the government 'dissolved' seems a bit disconcerting to me since I was raised with set terms, but I'm sure it just seems natural to you.
Another difference is the American executive branch, which has a lot of power. The USA seems to be one of the few with this. Filip (from Bulgaria) had explained to me previously how the elected parties had to compromise to share cabinet posts. Since the American 'cabinet' is the President's advisors, this idea was strange to me and I had to learn how this is a different process in his, and many other, countries.
I am getting some government education on this blog!
On another topic: I have recently read a mystery featuring DeKok and found it quite enjoyable.
@Jane: I am glad to read that you enjoy the Dutch :)
And yes, I think in a lot of (European) countries elections and governments are formed in a different way then in the USA. And probably what's best lays in the middle.
However what we see know is that the largest parties have to compromise. And I mean a lot. I get the feeling that they cannot stick to what they promised earlier during their campaigns. But I think this behaviour is not typical Dutch :)
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