Politics
23 Nov 2011
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament and universal suffrage based on a proportional representation system.
This system gives a large number of parties the opportunity to win seats in parliament, such that no single party has an overall majority. The government must maintain the support of a parliamentary majority to stay in power. For this reason, cabinets are always multiparty coalitions chaired by the prime minister.
The Cabinet's duties include the day-to-day business of government, preparing legislation and putting it into practice, overseeing local government and maintaining international relations. The monarchy symbolizes national unity and therefore has a more ceremonial character.
The political preferences of the Dutch people are much the same as is found in the rest of Europe: the three main moderate political tendencies are represented by the social democrats, the Christian democrats and the liberal parties. The smaller parties are generally less moderate variations on one of the three main lines.
- Official name: Kingdom of the Netherlands, commonly referred to as Holland or the Netherlands;
- Form of government: Constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament;
- Head of state: The hereditary monarch (Queen Beatrix);
- Head of government: The prime minister (Mark Rutte);
- Capital city: Amsterdam;
- Seat of government: The Hague.
More information
- Government.nl (information about the government and government policy);
- Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (a brief summary of the history of the Netherlands).
