How Dutch democracy works

10/12/'20 - After the elections on the 17th of March, 2021, 150 Members of Parliament will enter the Lower House in The Hague. Some of these MPs are new in the Lower House, while others are re-elected. The current Lower House consists of 13 parties and three independent MPs, this number is unlikely to decrease after the elections.  

After the new Lower House is installed, negotiations between parties will start with the goal of reaching a coalition agreement between parties that together have a majority in the Lower House. Given the high fragmentation of political parties, the forming of a coalition can be a tough and long process. Therefore, parties must work together and make concessions to be able to form a coalition. When a coalition agreement is reached, a cabinet will be formed, consisting of ministers and deputy ministers, so-called state secretaries. Ministers and state secretaries come from the Lower House, but also from outside; this choice is up to the parties forming a coalition. The remaining parties will form the opposition in the Lower House. The current coalition consists of four parties (Conservative Liberals, Social Liberals, Christian Democrats and Social Christians) and took over half a year of negotiation to be formed after the elections, forming the cabinet Rutte III.