While the provincial elections are long behind us, the formation of the Brabant board is still in full swing. Many agendas of the newly elected Members of Parliament therefore seem anything but full. But Tuesday is circled in red: the members of Parliament will then elect the Senate. And as a province with many inhabitants, Brabant plays an important role in this. How that works, we explain here.
Many national politicians were prominently featured around the provincial elections. That was not without reason. Because where we elected people’s representatives in the province, these members of parliament in turn elect members for the Senate. Their main task is to check whether bills are well drafted and feasible. They can agree to new laws and amendments or sweep them off the table.
Tuesday is therefore not only an important day for all Members of Parliament, but also for national politics.
The more residents, the more choice
Not every vote of members of Parliament for the Senate elections carries the same weight. This is because not every province has the same number of inhabitants. For example, a Member of Parliament in our province represents more people than a Member of Parliament in, for example, Zeeland. And so the vote of Brabant members of the States carries more weight than that of their Zeeland colleagues.
Together, the Brabant members of parliament account for 12 of the 75 seats in the Senate. This makes our province relatively valuable. Only South and North Holland can choose more seats.
The importance of a Brabant seat
Precious is also certainly the seat for the Brabant ChristenUnie-SGP. In the last elections, this combination party won one seat in the Provincial Council. The electoral threshold was actually not reached, but after the distribution of residual seats, party leader Anne Schipper was allowed to take a seat in the Bossche provincial house.
“It is very nice to have the Brabant seat. In the first place, of course, to represent our voters in Brabant, but certainly also for the Senate,” says Schipper. “We now have more than 2 seats in the Senate and the seat in Brabant makes putting the puzzle a bit easier.”
The game for the residual votes
A Member of Parliament is not obliged to vote for his own party. It can even be beneficial not to do that sometimes. For example, if your party does not have enough votes for an entire extra seat in the Senate. But if that one vote is enough to give a friendly party or coalition partner an extra seat. For example, a Brabant member of the VVD voted for D66 in the 2019 elections. To help the national coalition with an extra Senate seat.
With such an example in mind, crazy things can happen on Tuesday. Behind the scenes, calculations are busy and parties are lobbying other parties. The denouement is not so easy to predict. Everyone keeps their jaws tight. Because, says Schipper of ChristenUnie-SGP: “You should not disturb a brooding chicken.”
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