2021 Dutch Elections

[+ Ginyu]

In March my country gets to go to the voting booth again. Here I'll tell you something about it for those interested. I'll put up some introductory info first, then a table with general info and lastly in some spoilers I'll go deeper into the individual parties.

So, first things first, we're voting on "de Tweede Kamer" (Second Chamber) our House of Representatives. They decide the laws and policies, the senate (de Eerste Kamer|First Chamber) accepts them, and then they go into practice. In short, these are the general elections, they are considered most important because this is where the most important decisions are made, it's where shit gets done. The chamber has 150 seats. The seats are divided over the parties people vote over, that's done proportional to the amount of voters show up. Real simple: Amount of voters that show up / 150 = Amount of voters needed for a seat. Seats are assigned. Any seats left unfilled will go to the parties with the biggest surplus of votes. After the votes are counted the seats a assigned we go into a formation process. A coalition of parties has to be formed who basically become the government. Such a coalition must have 76 seats (150 / 2 + 1) to form a majority. Preferably the coalition also has a majority in the First Chamber, that way any law they make gets accepted as well unless something is really wrong. The formation of a coalition is done by the party with the most seats, their leader also becomes Prime Minister, if the party fails to make a coalition the second party gets to try, though this is almost never the case. The current coalition consists of 4 parties: VVD, CDA, D66 and CU. It's considered to be a centre-right government.

Party	Ideology	Economic (right-left)	Society (prog-con)	Leader	Current seats	Expected seats atm	Districs Competing
VVD	Classic Liberalism	right	centre	Mark Rutte	33	34-42	All 20
PVV	Populism	centre-left	very conservative	Geert Wilders	20	17-23	All 20
CDA	Christian Democracy	centre-right	conservative	Wopke Hoekstra	19	18-20	All 20
D66	Social Liberalism	centre-right	progressive	Sigrid Kaag	19	13-15	All 20
GL	Green	centre-left	progressive	Jesse Klaver	14	9-13	All 20
SP	Socialism	left-wing	lean conservative	Lilian Marijnissen	14	9-11	All 20
PvdA	Social Democracy	centre-left	lean progressive	Lilianne Ploumen	9	12-14	All 20
CU	Social Convervatism	centre-left	conservative	Gert-Jan Segers	5	5-7	All 20
PvdD	Animal rights	centre-left	very progressive	Esther Ouwehand	5	4-7	All 20
50+	Pensioners' Interests	centre-left	conservative	Liane den Haan	4	1-3	All 20
SGP	Christian Right	right	very conservative	Kees van der Staaij	3	2-4	All 20
DENK	Identity Politics	centre-left	centre	Farid Azarkan	3	1-3	All 20
FvD	Nationalism	right	conservative	Thierry Baudet	2	2-4	All 20
JA21	Conservative Liberalism	right	conservative	Joost Eerdmans	0	0-4	All 20
CO	Direct Democracy	centre	centre	Richard de Mos	0	0-1	All 20
BIJ1	Anti-Capitalism	far-left	very progressive	Sylvana Simons	0	0-1	All 20
VOLT	Eurofederalism	centre-left	progressive	Laurens Dassen	0	0-1	All 20
JONG	Youth interests	centre-left	progressive	Jaron Tichelaar	0	0	All except Caribbean
LHK	Centrism	centre	centre	Henk Krol	0	0	All except Caribbean
PP	Pirate Politics	centre-left	progressive	Matthijs Pontier	0	0	All 20
LP	Libertarianism	far-right	centre	Robert Valentine	0	0	All 20
BBB	Agrarianism	centre	conservative	Caroline van der Plas	0	0	All except Caribbean
NIDA	Islamic Democracy	centre-left	conservative	Nourdin El Ouali	0	0	All 20
NLB	Health Care Reform	centre	lean progressive	Esther van Fenema	0	0	All except Caribbean
Splinter	Social liberalism	centre-right	progressive	Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen	0	0	All except Caribbean
OPRECHT	National conservatism	right	conservative	Michael Ruperti	0	0	All except Caribbean
JL	Evangelicalism	left	very conservative	Florens van der Spek	0	0	16 out of 20
ToNL	Conservative Liberalism	right	conservative	Sander van den Raadt	0	0	13 out of 20
UBCF	Ubuntuism	left	progressive	Regillio Vaarnold	0	0	13 out of 20
PvdE	Islamism	centre-right	very conservative	Arnoud van Doorn	0	0	8 out of 20
DFP	Apoliticism/Satire	no	no	Johan Vlemmix	0	0	8 out of 20
VSNL	Populism	centre-left	centre	Bas Filippini	0	0	6 out of 20
WZNL	Crypto-Fascism	far-right	very conservative	Erwin Versteeg	0	0	6 out of 20
MNL	e-Democracy	centre	centre	Niels Heeze	0	0	4 out of 20
DG	Green	left	progressive	Otto ter Haar	0	0	2 out of 20
PvdR	Anti-Monarchism	centre-right	lean progressive	Bruno Braakhuis	0	0	2 out of 20
Blank	Independents	don't know	don't know	Anna Zeven	0	0	12 out of 20

VVD:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie
English: People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
The VVD has been the biggest party in the Netherlands for 10 years now. Their dominance started when they appointed Mark Rutte, the current PM, as their leader. He had a scramble for power with Rita Verdonk, she wanted the VVD to remain in a conservative direction, while the younger Rutte aimed to focus on economical aspect of the VVD and pleaded for more progressive drug, abortion, euthanasia laws, etc. Mark won and has won 3 elections, meaning he's been our PM for 10 years now. There's a bit of discussion as to whether or not he'll continue, but since his most obvious heir, Klaas Dijkhoff, is leaving the party, he'll probably remain for another 4 years until a suitable successor is found. The VVD is still looking good to win the election. They've governed for very long and everyone seems content with how everything is going. The coronavirus only seems to have helped them. Sensible lockdown strategies made them more popular, everybody has kinda come to the realization that everything is pretty well organized here. And VVD voters intend to keep it that way. This has been my favorite party for a while, not sure if I'll vote for them again, there is a smaller party I'm considering. Anyway, yeah. VVD, your classic liberal party.

PVV:

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Dutch: Partij voor de Vrijheid
English: Party for Freedom.
This party doesn't like muslims, that's pretty much it. Kind of our white trash parties. Economically they've adopted a lot of lefty policies to get the lower class white people on their side, but mainly they focus on the problem of the Islamization of the nation. The leader has had a couple cases against him for racism, which he won, because turns out we don't really have any hate speech laws. But yeah, their party program is just a one page long list of 40 statements, about 20 of which relate to having less foreigners. You get the gist, odds are pretty low I'll vote for them.

CDA:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Christen-Democratisch Appèl
English: Christian Democratic Appeal
Christian Dem party. Pretty much the European average, these guys are big buddies of Angela Merkel. centre-right average policies and a bit of conservatism to appease the Christian base. They're the kind of party that won't really outlaw abortion, euthanasia and drugs, but they'll make it very hard for you. I don't like the for the simple fact that they're Christian, and I like my church and state separated, but policy wise they're... eh... Not terrible. Won't vote for them, but wouldn't mind them in the coalition with limited power per se.

D66:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Democraten '66
English: Democrats '66
Liberal party who adopt a lot of progressive viewpoints. They tend to be very green, and their economic policies usually don't go that far to the right. They're still more of a right than left wing party. D66 will probably lose seats again in their never-ending vicious circle: get votes > enter coalition > discard a lot of your ideals > lose votes > get a shit coalition > people become unhappy. Repeat the cycle. They're currently in a coalition with pretty conservative parties so they abandoned a lot of their ideals again for some meager green policies meaning they're off to get downgraded again. They used to be my favorite party, but quite quickly realized it's pointless voting for them because all they do is push for a few green policies (and often the wrong ones, meaning expensive policies for little reward) then give in to the other parties. They also really like to let you know their party leader is a woman, which is something that doesn't really affect me in any way.

GL:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: GroenLinks
English: GreenLeft
Classic green party. They're actually not that left-wing, even though it's in their name. They mostly care for environmental policies, green energy and all that. They got a lot of votes in 2017 becomes the biggest party on the left, but kind of let their voters down by not wanting govern with the VVD, on one hand I get it, it would be a tough coalition, on the other hand, this was their one chance to actually do something and they decided to leave it and shout from the sidelines, that'll probably cost them seats come this election. It's a pretty decent party besides that, probably the best on the left in my opinion.

SP:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Socialistische Partij
English: Socialist Party
An ex-Maoist party turned regular socialist. The SP kinda goes up and down in the ratings. When they're silent they seem to be racking up votes, probably from dissatisfied citizens who see a solution in socialism. Then they do something silly and lose a bunch of seats again. Currently they're got some internal problems again. A bunch of the party members were removed because they radicalized into communists according to the party. A large chunk of the party itself didn't like that and things that the party top is actually going to far to the right. The inner struggle in the SP is pretty big. You've got people on one side betraying their ideals in order to get into coalitions, on the other hand there's people radicalizing shifting the party into an endless cycle of opposition. We'll have to see how these struggles develop. At the moment it seems a lot of the radicals are leaving the party in favor of BIJ1.

PvdA:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Partij van de Arbeid
English: Labour Party
Classic old labour party. Mostly focused on the economical left. They lost a lot of seats in 2017 because of their previous coalition with the VVD. VVD back then had 40-something seats, the PvdA 38 iirc. it should've been a 50/50 coalition but the PvdA gave a lot of leeway to VVD policies. People massively abandoned the party in 2017, the biggest loss I've ever witnessed in a party. They seem to slowly be creeping up again, they're challenging GL in becoming the biggest party on the left.

CU:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: ChristenUnie
English: ChristianUnion
This is a Christian party in every sense of the word. pretty left-wing economically all love-thy-neighbour and shit. But they're very conservative, don't like abortion, don't like euthanasia, don't like drugs, tobacco, alcohol, foreigners, you get the deal. They get a consistent amount of votes and governing doesn't seem to hurt them, they usually worm their way into a coalition, fight to make euthanasia a little harder and their voters all get an orgasm and vote for them again. Shit fuckin party, fuck the CU.

PvdD:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Partij voor de Dieren
English: Party for the Animals
One-issue party, that being animal rights. They are the most popular one-issue party though. They also care a lot about green policies, kinda makes sense, saving the planet, saves animals. These are your stereotypical vegetarians, but in all honesty, not a bad party. They force a lot of motions through for animal rights, they are actually quite significant in what they do and very few parties oppose them. A good addition in the government if you ask me.

50+:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: 50PLUS
English: 50PLUS
The name might say 50+ but you have to be 60+ to vote for these guys. Just a bunch of grumpy old people who want to lower the retirement age. Their charismatic leader has even left the party, doubt they'll even get a seat this year.

SGP:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij
English: Reformed Political Party
Christian Wackos. Super right-wing. Super Christian. They want to prohibit shops from being open on Sunday, Make reading the bible mandatory in schools. They always get 3 seats, always from the same people living in the bible belt. They also hate foreigners.

DENK:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: DENK
English: THINK
Minority rights party. Mostly comprised of Turkish and Moroccan ethnic people. In general always try to fight racism but usually get bad media attention because of silly mistakes they'll make. They'll defend the wrong people usually. Also seem to have ties to Erdogan's AK Party. Hard to track how many votes they'll get, they are very popular among Turkish and Moroccan immigrants, but they have unreliable turnout rates.

FvD:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Forum voor Democratie
English: Forum for Democracy
Very right-wing party. Got very popular over the years because they seemed to be an intelligent alternative to the PVV, now they're off down again because they ignored accusations of anti-Semitism within the party. A ton of people left and a ton of voters left with them. The remains are still here. FvD, at 4 seats now, but at one point at 28 seats in the polls. Parties splintered away from them are GO and JA21. Most FvD voters have left for the PVV and VVD though. What remains now is an alt-right mess simping for Thierry Baudet their leader. We'll see if they even manage to hang on to those 4 seats projected right now.

JA21:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Het Juiste Antwoord '21
English: The Right Answer 21
Splintered away from FvD. Probably the most sensible of the bunch. They're led by two beloved politicians. Joost Eerdmans has done a lot in local Rotterdam poltics and Annabel Nanninga has done a lot in Amsterdam local politics. These guys imemdiately rejected the anti-Semitism and left to form their own little conservative right party. They're at 2 seats now in the polls, I could see them growing.

CO:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Code Oranje
English: Code Orange
This party wants direct democracy. A lot of referendums and an eventual e-democracy where the populaton directly decides on policies. Their current leader is being investigated for corruption, it honestly seems like a pathetic party but for some reason they have 1 seat in the polls right now.

BIJ1:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: BIJ1
English: Together
Most left-wing party we have. They are Marxists. Seem to be getting a lot more popular though, they're acquiring a lot of the SP radicals. Their youth wing is mostly controversial, mostly because of their constant use of ACAB which is a very controversial thing here. And party members being spotted at Julius Malema rallies in South Africa. Their website also seems to be filled with a lot of SJW-ey stuff about reparations and toxic masculinity. Not my kind of party. But the Internet leftists do like them.

VOLT:

Spoiler Alert!

Name is literally just VOLT.
Volt is a pan-European party, they're Eurofederalists fighting for more European integration and cooperation. Besides this the Volt party looks very liberal and green, but the focus remains on Europe. This is probably my favorite party, I'm considering voting for them, but seats wise, it'll be a battle for 1 seat.

JONG:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: JONG
English: YOUNG
People who want young people in politics and want to fight for younger people's interests. Read free college, voting age down to 16 and issues young people like in general: green politics. Don't really have a chance at a seat. There's alsready big parties fighting for these issues, and young people can already enter politics through their youth wings. There's not really a need nor support for this party.

LHK:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Lijst Henk Krol
English: List Henk Krol
Party is named after the leader Henk Krol. The old leader of 50+ but had a falling out with them. he still has some support but not a lot. His policies seem to be all over place. right-left-prog-con, he's got it all. Probably won't get a seat, but you never know.

PP:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Piraten Partij
English: Pirate Party
Classic old pirate party. Every country has one. Non of them have power. Dutch pirate party ain't no different. Probably another seatless year for them.

LP:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Libertarische Partij
English: Libertarian Party
These guys watched one too many American Netflix show. They want to allow guns and stuff. Super libertarian. Got 0.01% of votes last year. Wackos.

BBB:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Boer-Burger-Beweging
English: Farmer-Citizen-Movement
They are party who are coming up for farmers' interests. Often that means going agaisnt green policies making them very unpopular unless you're a farmer. Won't get a seat.

NIDA:

Spoiler Alert!

Nida is an Islamic word meaning 'call' or 'vote'
They're an Islamist party. They apparently get inspiration from the Koran. Pretty conservative parties, though left-wing. Got semi-popular in Rotterdam, trying nationally now. Don't think they have a chance at a seat.

NLB:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: NLBeter
English: NLBetter
One issue party fighting for health care reform. These kind of one issue parties never make it. They got a little media attention, but no chance in the actual elections.

Splinter:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Splinter Politiek
English: Splinter Politics
This is the party of Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen. When she left the Party for the Animals, she founded the Party for the Future with Henk Krol, who had left 50PLUS and Henk Otten, who had left Forum for Democracy. The Party for the Future didn't last long, there were huge differences in the party (honestly, no shit, founded by ex-nationalists and ex-animals rights people, yeah, not exactly a good idea.) they all went their separate ways. Otten took the right-wing faction to Group Otten, and Van Kooten-Arissen took the left-wing faction to this party. Splinter Politics. The remainder joined Henk Krol and at List Henk Krol. Anyway, Splinter is a social liberalist party, they're a lot like D66 in their opinions, I don't see them surviving.

OPRECHT:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: OPRECHT
English: SINCERELY
Another party that wants to jump in the vaccum between the classic liberal VVD and the nationalist FvD. There's so many people who seem to have this idea, but there's two main issues with it.
1. the CDA already fills this vaccuum and plenty of people don't care that they're voting for a Christian party.
2. it doesn't work if 5+ smaller parties want to do this at the same time. I think JA21 will finally fill this spot as they already get media attention, and the creation of these small pathetic parties will stop.
No seats, no one cares.

JL:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: JEZUS LEEFT
English: JESUS LIVES
Yeah, name says enough. Wacko Christians that sound like they're on LSD all the time. Of course they're not really high. They're HIGH ON THE SPIRIT OF JESUS! AND IT'S TELLING THEM THAT YOU CAN'T HAVE ABORTIONS.
Not gonna lie, they're super entertaining in the debates. Great party, 0 seats.

ToNL:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Trots op Nederland
English: Proud of the Netherlands
Remember that Rita Verdonk woman from the VVD story? This is the party she made after losing to Mark Rutte. VVD but more conservative. Think she's been gone for a long time but the party continues to compete in elections, they never get media attention let alone a single seat.

UBCF:

Spoiler Alert!

Name: U-Buntu Connected Front (official name is already in English)
An Ubuntuist party! Yeah, really anyone can make a party in the Netherlands! This one is for Ubuntuists!
0 seats.

PvdE:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Partij voor de Eenheid
English: Party for Unity
This one is an amazing story. So the leader of this party is an ex-PVV member. But wait... Isn't this an Islamist party? Yes, yes it is. And isn't the PVV Islamophobic? Yes, yes they are.
The leader of the party converted to Islam and left the PVV, as if that wasn't enough humiliation for them he also created this Islamist party. They unironically want Sharia law in the Netherlands. anti-LGBT, anti-Zionist. Very entertaining, this is Dutch politics at its best. thank God for 0 seats.

DFP:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: De Feestpartij
English: The party party.
Name is way better in English. They want to give every Dutch citizen €10.000. Because that's how money works. Got some other stupid things they want. It's a satire party, too bad they're not actually funny or clever. Boomer humor, 0 seats.

VSNL:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Vrij en Sociaal Nederland
English: Free and Social Netherlands
Weird party, their website goes on about humanism and being nice to each other. Very little actual policies. They are also corona-sceptic. Just a little bit nutty I guess. Nobody cares anyway, 0 seatos!

WZNL:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Wij Zijn Nederland
English: We Are the Netherlands
These guys are probably the craziest party we've ever had aside from the Party for Liquidation (Wanted to sell the country to oil sheiks and divide the profit among the population) and NSB (Dutch Nazi Party).
Their website is full of anti-leftism, conspiracy theories, corona-denial, climate change denial, anti-immigration rhetoric. They even have a policy where they want the Netherlands to return to a population of 14.000.000 by closing the borders and promoting re-migration. Absolute fucking nuts. Literally the only party out of all these 37 to support the curfew riots from late January.
0 seats? I fucking hope so... I'm afraid some talkshow host will try to get some views, invite them and it'll result in enough wackos to vote for them and give them a seat.

MNL:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Modern Nederland
English: Modern Netherlands
They want e-democracy. Pretty pointless because Code Orange is already fighting for direct democracy with e-democracy as its long term goal. It's also one of the long term goals of FvD. Throwing your vote away here. 0 seats.

DG:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: De Groenen
English: The Greens
This is literally a Dutch wing of Die Grünen (German green party) why they're here I have no idea... We already have a green party. (see GL). These guys are a little bit more economical left, but not much. They're only competing in 2 out of 20 voting regions, so they're literally just taking away votes for GreenLeft, so fucking stupid. 0 seats. Predicting these guys will get the least votes out of all 37 parties.

PvdR:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: Partij voor de Republiek
English: Party for the Republic
An anti-monarchist party. Want the Netherlands to become a republic. They're economically liberal. societal pretty progressive. Actually a decent party, not sure on the Republicanism myself. Would consider voting if they were bigger or got media attention. For now, 0 seats.

Blank:

Spoiler Alert!

Dutch: blanco lijst met als eerste kandidaat Zeven, A.J.L.B.
English: Blank list with 'Zeven, A.J.L.B.' as its first candidate
a list of independents, not affiliated to any party, very hard to get any proper info on them. I have no idea what they want other than they're corona-sceptics. Seem like wackos to me I guess, 0 seats.

I'll occasionally update this thread with expected seats or party development. Feel free to share your opinion or ask questions.

[+ Ginyu]

Update 1:
- Edited the expected seats according to current polls.
- Removed Lodewijk Asscher as PvdA leader, he stepped down as leader because of controversy. New leader is to be determined.
- Replaced Jezus Leeft with Splinter. Jezus Leeft is not to be taken seriously anymore and Splinter is apparently getting a slight bit of attention from pollsters.

[+ Ginyu]

Update 2:
-Updates all the parties to everyone who is confirmed competing. Removed all the parties that failed to sign up.
-Updated expected seats again. For those wondering, the range is literally just the lowest polling number that shows up as lower bound and the highest polling number that shows up as higher bound. The polling stations I'm using are I&O, Ipsos/1V, Kantar and Peil.

[Sam]

Ngl, I came here to meme about the Dutch but this stuff is actually pretty cool, Tom.

[+ Ginyu]

Might translate the most popular political test later so you guys can see which party you align with.

[+ Ginyu]

Alright, here’s a Dutch political test y’all can fill in and it’ll tell you which party to align with.
The link to the test is here: https://tweedekamer2021.stemwijzer.nl/#/
I’ll explain it a little bit and put translations of questions into spoilers below with some context. In general you’re gonna be asked question and you can click on either “eens” (agree|green button) or “oneens” (disagree|red button) there is also a grey button with “geen van beide” (neither) but I advise avoiding that button. Parties have very particular niche reasons to pick that stance and they also avoid it because the people avoid it too and the parties want you to agree with them. If you don’t know the answer to a question there should be a white button in the bottom right “overslaan” (skip) this ignores the question, I advise clicking that. Remember the question you find extra important, at the end you can click a bunch of question you find important so you can make them a little more valuable in the end result.
There are 10 parties that don’t compete. Coincidentally they are the 10 parties at the bottom of my table, they are incredibly unimportant anyway so doesn’t matter.
Make sure to read the question properly, some of them have negations in it which confuses many people. So: “Taxes should not be raised further”
Agree means: Taxes = bad
Disagree means: Taxes = good
Click start to start.
Vaccinatiebewijs (Proof of vaccination):

Spoiler Alert!

Organisers of events should be able to ask for a certificate of vaccination upon entry.

Spoiler Alert!

Context: Corona. We’re vaccinating people now and eventually we wanna open up festivals, restaurant, etc. Some people want to do this safely by asking people for proofs of vaccination to ensure safetry, others have privacy issues with that or don’t think it’s fair to people who choose to not get vaccinated.

Defensiebudget (Defence budget):

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The Netherlands have to spend more money on defence. (the military)

Spoiler Alert!

Context: We are currently spending 1,35% of our GDP on defence. The norm agreed with NATO is 2% of the GDP, so we’re under it. People in favor range from “let’s honor the norm” to “TERRORISTS ARE GONNA KILL US ALL.” People against range from “nah, waste of money” to “ABOLISH THE MILITARY.” Pick your poison.

Gratis kinderopvang (Free daycare):

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Day-care has to be free for parents at least 3 days per week.

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Context: At the moment it’s not free. Parents pay and people with low incomes can get an allowance based on their income. Pros: Incentivizes people to work. It’s a burden off shoulders of parents. Cons: Taxes go up. It’s free for everyone and doesn’t redistribute wealth.
Both sides argue the quality of Day-care will go up if they get their way, so yeah.

Nederland uit EU (Netherlands out of EU):

Spoiler Alert!

The Netherlands has to step out of the European Union.

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Context: Think it’s pretty clear. Brexit but for the Netherlands.

Rekeningrijden (Road pricing):

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Instead of a tax on car ownership there has to be a tax based on kilometers driven.

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Context: Think it’s pretty clear. Opponents are saying it hits people harder who live outside of populated areas. Proponents just think it’s fairer to tax that way.

Vuurwerk (fire works):

Spoiler Alert!

Next New Years’ eve, people should be allowed to light low-grade fireworks again. (They prohibited it this year because of Corona)

Spoiler Alert!

Pro: Tradition, fun, pEoPlE wIlL dO iT aNyWay.
Contra: Injuries, damage, animals, iT’s nOt aCtuAlLy fUn.
See YouTube video “How to survive Dutch New Year” for more context and some cool explosions.

Vleesbelasting (meat tax):

Spoiler Alert!

There has to be an extra tax on the purchase of meat.

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Pro: Environment
Against: It’s a basic need.

Publieke Omroep (public broadcast corporation):

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The public broadcast corporation has to get less money.

Spoiler Alert!

Arguments range a lot here. There’s left-wing parties in favor because of big salaries in public broadcast. There’s right-wing parties in favor because they think the public broadcast is left-leaning. There’s left-wing and right-wing parties against it because the public broadcast battles fake news disinformation.

Zorgfonds (care fund):

Spoiler Alert!

Instead of commercial health insurers, there has to be a national care fund for everyone.

Spoiler Alert!

Context: The current system is akin to Obamacare. There are commercial insurers, and everyone is obligated to be insured somewhere. The basic packages are government regulated and have to include a set of things and have a set maximum price. This statement is saying we should go the NHS route.

Gezichtsbeddekende kleding (Face-covering clothing):

Spoiler Alert!

The government has to retract the current ban on face-covering cloting.

Spoiler Alert!

Context: face-covering clothing is anything from a burka or niqab to a balaclava.
Proponets of the statement think the ban is racist against Muslims.
Opponents of the statement range from ‘we live in an open society’ to ‘face-covering clothing is misogynistic’ (of course you’re also gonna get some Islamophobes here)

Volkshuisvesting (Public housing):

Spoiler Alert!

Instead of provinces and municipalities, the national government has to decide where new housess will be build.

Spoiler Alert!

Context: Currently the provinces decide where houses are built and the municipalities decide how many houses get build.
Arguments here are that national government would be more efficient and quicker, but provincial and municipal government obviously know their region better and can take local opinions into consideration.

Btw op kunst en cultuur (VAT on arts and culture)

Spoiler Alert!

the VAT-rate on arts and culture has to be lowered to 5%.

Spoiler Alert!

Context: Currently it’s 9%. There are 3 VAT rates in the Netherlands. 5%, 9% and 21%. 5% is for basic needs: food, water, public transport. Proponents think it’s important. Opponents don’t think it’s a basic need where the rate has to be lowered 4%.

Kerncentrale (Nuclear power plant):

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The Netherlands has to build a new nuclear power plant.

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Think we all know what it means and what the risks and benefits are.
Pro: OMG so Green.
Contra: OMG so Chernobyl.

Woningen op landbouwgrond (Houses on farming land):

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New houses have to be built on land currently used for farming.

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Context: There is a housing crisis. We need more houses. Should be sacrifice farming land? Proponents say we have way too much farming land. We’re the 2^nd largest agricultural exporter in the world after the U.S. Opponents say that’s precisely why agriculture is so important to the economy, and a lot of farming land is considered a nature reserve.

Belastingvoordeel huishoudens (Tax benefit for households):

Spoiler Alert!

Households with two partners, of which 1 works, should get the same amount of tax benefits as households where both partners work.

Spoiler Alert!

Proponents say it’s fairer that way.
Opponents say it isn’t.

Excuses slavenhandel (Apologies slave trade):

Spoiler Alert!

The Dutch government has to apologize for the slave trade in the past.

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Proponents say it’s the right thing to do.
Opponents say it has nothing to do with present day Netherlands and it’s useless.

Correctief referendum (corrective referendum):

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Citizens should have the possibility to block laws accepted by the government in the form of a referendum.

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Proponents: Power to the people
Opponents: Referendums don’t work and are stupid.

Inkomen leraren (Salary teachers):

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Teachers at elementary schools should make the same as teachers in middle/high schools.

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Context: they don’t.
Proponents think they should. Opponents think middle/high school teachers require more skill and education and therefore should receive more.

Gevangenisstraffen (Prison sentences):

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There should be less possibilities to punish in the form of community service instead of prison sentences.

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So disagree means: Community service is good. Lower sentencing.
Agree means the opposite: Harsher sentencing.

Vliegbelasting (Aviation tax):

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The Netherlands has to introduce an aviation tax for short flights.

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Proponents: Environment. Flying is bad.
Opponents: Flying becomes a thing for the rich.

Inburgering op locatie (Integration on location):

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Asylum seekers with a temporary grant first have to get integrated before they receive a rental home.

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Proponents think this improves integration, it incentives them to integrate.
Opponents think it does the opposite because it segregates them from society.

Legalisering softdrugs (Legalisation softdrugs):

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The purchasing and sale of softdrugs by coffeeshops has to be legal.

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Context: Softdrugs are any drug the government deems soft: weed, hash, truffles, mushrooms.
Pro: drugs good
Contra: drugs bad

Nederlandstalig hoger onderwijs (Dutch-spoken higher education):

Spoiler Alert!

The government should make the Dutch language mandatory more often in universities and college.

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Context: Okay, so this one is a bit complex.

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Currently the government makes one big pot called 'university subsidies' and the way it's divided is according to the number of students a uni has.
So Universities start competing with each other over acquiring students. Dutch students are a limited pool so every uni is massively switching to English studies to attract foreign students
But it's at a cost of quality
Small personal anecdote of mine when I was a freshman.
I attended a lecture. Professor went: "oh, alright. Is anyone English? "Nobody raised their hands. "Okay, if no one is English then I can just do it in Dutch, makes it a lot more clear and easy for me." Suddenly one guy raises his hand: "The lecture is being recorded, there might be English people at home."
So then the Dutch professor had to do an lecture in English in the a Dutch university in front of a 100% Dutch crowd in a subject he's much better at explaining in Dutch.
Of course there are also parties who just vote 'agree' because they are all Dutch pride and shit. But the main issue is what I just explained.
Then there’s opponents, their arguments are more straightforward. Dutch students speak English just fine and it’s inclusive. The fact that Dutch universities compete and massively try to attract foreign students is not seen as a problem. They argue that the drop in quality is either nonexistent or a necessary evil.

Voltooid leven (Completed life):

Spoiler Alert!

People who think their life is complete, have to receive help in suicide.

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Basically euthanasia/assisted suicide. Agree means that’s ok. Disagree means that’s not ok.

Koppeling minimum loon en bijstand (Linking minimum wage and welfare benefits):

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A raise in minimum wage should no longer automatically lead to a raise in welfare benefits.

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Proponents want to make minimum wage more important to incentivize work.
Opponents want them linked because they should both be based on a livable wage.

Sociale huurwoning (social rental housing):

Spoiler Alert!

New neighborhoods have to be comprised of social rental housing for 40%.

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Context: Social rental housing are rental houses for low incomes. At the moment I think it’s at least 30%. Some parties want it raised. Others don’t

Boerenbedrijven (farms):

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There can be no further restrictions on the activities of farmers.

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Context: Farmers are bad for the environment and good for the economy

Middenschool (Middle school):

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There has to be a middle school, so students can make a choice between vmbo, havo and vwo at a later age.

Spoiler Alert!

Context: If you need a lot of context behind this one you can look up how the Dutch school system works yourself. But basically, after elementary school you make a test then go to a high school based on your how good of a student you are. Vmbo is for average and lower students. Havo is above average and prepares you for college. VWO is the highest and prepares you for uni. Some people think a middle school is necessary in between to get a proper idea on where students belong. Opponents point to the middle school experiment in the 70s which failed and that the current system is fine or even excels compared to other European nations.

Vluchtelingen opnemen (take in refugees):

Spoiler Alert!

The Netherlands should take in more refugees that is does currently.

Spoiler Alert!

Context is clear I think.

Mondkapjesplicht (Mandatory face mask):

Spoiler Alert!

People should be able to decide themselves whether or not to wear a face mask.

Spoiler Alert!

Context: Corona. Opponents value face masks and safety. Proponents value freedom or argue they don’t work.

Alright, when you’re done it should now ask you which of the statements you want to add extra value to. You can pick a couple important ones, or maybe a whole bunch, or perhaps none at all. Decide yourself.
Next it tells you which parties you want to receive the results of. In the top left you can also click “alle partijen” (All parties) or “Zittende partijen” (currently seated parties).
I recommend either clicking all parties just to see who’s at the top and bottom.
Or clicking the seated parties and adding the relevant newcomers (BIJ1, JA21, Code Oranje, Volt) to see who you’d actually vote for had you been Dutch.
Next there’s two “I agree” boxes. The first one sells you data to China, the second one sells your soul to Satan. Just click ‘em both.
Now there’s gonna be a thing at the top probably where you can select two parties and answer some extra question to really narrow down your top result (just hit me up if you want to do that and want me to help, if you’re interested) but you can now just scroll down and see the results. My top 3 parties were D66, Volt and JONG. Big parties that followed close were 50PLUS, GroenLinks and PvdA.
At the bottom I had DENK, PVV and Jezus Leeft. Big parties that followed were FvD, CU and SP.
Have fun, share your results

[Big Green Uncle 2]

Yeah I agree, this is pretty cool. This seems a lot more diverse than U.S. politics, that's for sure.