House of Representatives (Netherlands)

The **House of Representatives**, Dutch: _Tweede Kamer_ (literally **Second Chamber**), is the lower house of the States General, the parliament of the Netherlands.

It is comparable with the House of Representatives in other countries, because it is chosen by direct elections.

It consists of 150 members, who are chosen every four years or earlier when the government has been brought down.

In contrast with the First Chamber or Senate the Second Chamber has extensive legislative powers.

## House of Representatives 2021-2023

The elections for the new House of Representatives were held on Wednesday 17 March 2021. The new House was installed on 31 March 2021. Twenty parliamentary groups had been present in the House since March 2022 (originally 17).

Parties with considerable gains were the progressive liberal party D66, the populist parties FVD and JA21, and newcomer Volt. Considerable losses had been suffered by the Christian democratic party CDA, the left parties GL and SP, the populist party PVV, and the senior party 50+.

BBB and BIJ1 had made their first appearance in parliament.

On 6 May 2021, Liane den Haan left 50+ and became an independent MP. On 13 May 2021, Wybren van Haga and two other MPs left FVD and became the Group Van Haga. On 12 June 2021, Pieter Omtzigt left the CDA and became an independent MP. In February 2022, Nilüfer Gündoğan was expelled from the Volt group and had been an independent MP since 22 March 2022.

President of the House of Representatives was Vera Bergkamp (D66).

|Party|Dutch name|Shortened|Parliamentary leader|Original seats|Seats after changes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|People's Party for Freedom and Democracy|Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie|VVD|Mark Rutte (2021-2022), Sophie Hermans (2022-2023)|34|34|
|Democrats 66|Democraten 66|D66|Sigrid Kaag (2021), Rob Jetten (2021), Sigrid Kaag (2021-2022), Jan Paternotte (2022-2023)|24|24|
|Party for Freedom|Partij voor de Vrijheid|PVV|Geert Wilders|17|17|
|Christian Democratic Appeal|Christen-Democratisch Appèl|CDA|Wopke Hoekstra (2021-2022), Pieter Heerma (2022-2023), Henri Bontenbal (2023)|15|14|
|Socialist Party|Socialistische Partij|SP|Lilian Marijnissen|9|9|
|Labour Party|Partij van de Arbeid|PvdA|Lilianne Ploumen (2021-2022), Attje Kuiken (2022-2023), Jesse Klaver (2023)|9|9|
|GreenLeft|GroenLinks|GL|Jesse Klaver|8|8|
|Forum for Democracy|Forum voor Democratie|FVD|Thierry Baudet|8|5|
|Party for the Animals|Partij voor de Dieren|PvdD|Esther Ouwehand|6|6|
|ChristianUnion|ChristenUnie|CU|Gert-Jan Segers (2021-2023), Mirjam Bikker (2023)|5|5|
|Volt Netherlands|Volt Nederland|Volt|Laurens Dassen|3|2|
|JA21|JA21|JA21|Joost Eerdmans|3|3|
|Reformed Political Party|Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij|SGP|Kees van der Staaij (2021-2023), Chris Stoffer (2023)|3|3|
|DENK|DENK|DENK|Farid Azarkan (2021-2023), Stephan van Baarle (2023)|3|3|
|50PLUS|50PLUS|50+|Liane den Haan (2021), / (2021-2023)|1|0|
|FarmerCitizenMovement|BoerBurgerBeweging|BBB|Caroline van der Plas|1|1|
|BIJ1|BIJ1|BIJ1|Sylvana Simons|1|1|
|Group Van Haga|Groep-Van Haga||Wybren van Haga|/|3|
|Member Den Haan|Lid-Den Haan||Liane den Haan|/|1|
|Member Omtzigt|Lid-Omtzigt||Pieter Omtzigt|/|1|
|Member Gündoğan|Lid-Gündoğan||Nilüfer Gündoğan|/|1|
|_Total_||||_150_|_150_|

## House of Representatives 2017-2021

The general elections for this House of Representatives were held on Wednesday 15 March 2017. This House was installed on 23 March 2017 and dissolved on 31 March 2021.

When the results were announced, the Labour Party (PvdA) lost many seats, while the winner, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) led by Mark Rutte, also lost seats, but not as many.

Most of the opposition parties won seats. The populist Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders did not win as many seats as were expected of them, but they became second in the number of seats they had. More seats were won by (especially) GreenLeft (GL), Democrats 66 (D66), the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the Party for the Animals (PvdD), and 50PLUS (50+), along with the newly formed parties DENK and Forum for Democracy (FVD). The only other party to lose seats was the Socialist Party (SP), while the small Christian parties ChristianUnion (CU) and Reformed Political Party (SGP) did not gain or lose any seats.

President of the House of Representatives was Khadija Arib (PvdA).

|Party|Dutch name|Shortened|Parliamentary leader|Original seats|Seats after changes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|People's Party for Freedom and Democracy|Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie|VVD|Klaas Dijkhoff|33|32|
|Party for Freedom|Partij voor de Vrijheid|PVV|Geert Wilders|20|20|
|Christian Democratic Appeal|Christen-Democratisch Appèl|CDA|Sybrand van Haersma Buma (-2019), Pieter Heerma (2019-)|19|19|
|Democrats 66|Democraten 66|D66|Alexander Pechtold (-2018), Rob Jetten (2018-)|19|19|
|GreenLeft|GroenLinks|GL|Jesse Klaver|14|14|
|Socialist Party|Socialistische Partij|SP|Emile Roemer (-2017), Lilian Marijnissen (2017-)|14|14|
|Labour Party|Partij van de Arbeid|PvdA|Lodewijk Asscher (-2021), Lilianne Ploumen (2021-)|9|9|
|ChristianUnion|ChristenUnie|CU|Gert-Jan Segers|5|5|
|Party for the Animals|Partij voor de Dieren|PvdD|Marianne Thieme (-2019), Esther Ouwehand (2019-)|5|4|
|50PLUS|50PLUS|50+|Henk Krol (-2020), Corrie van Brenk (2020-)|4|3|
|Reformed Political Party|Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij|SGP|Kees van der Staaij|3|3|
|DENK|DENK|DENK|Tunahan Kuzu (-2020), Farid Azarkan (2020-)|3|3|
|Forum for Democracy|Forum voor Democratie|FVD|Thierry Baudet|2|2|
|Member Van Haga|Lid-Van Haga||Wybren van Haga|/|1|
|Member Van Kooten|Lid-Van Kooten||Femke Merel van Kooten|/|1|
|Member Krol|Lid-Krol||Henk Krol|/|1|
|_Total_||||_150_|_150_|

## General elections results since 1946

Original seats in post-war Second Chamber (_Tweede Kamer_).<br/ >
Coalitian parties marked in olive.<br/ >
Prime Minister's party in bold.

|Party|2023|2021|2017|2012|2010|2006|2003|2002|1998|1994|1989|1986|1982|1981|1977|1972|1971|1967|1965|1963|1959|1956|1952|1948|1946||||||||||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|PVV|37|17|20|15|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|24|9||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|PvdA|25 !|9|9|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|38|30|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|33|42|23|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**45**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**37**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|49|52|47|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|44|53|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**43**|39|37|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|43|43|48|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**50**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**30**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**27**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|29||||||
|GL|25 !|8|14|4|10|7|8|10|11|5|6|_3_|_9_|_9_|_6_|_16_|_10_|_9_|_8_|_8_|_5_|_7_|_6_|_8_|_10_||||||||||||||||||
|* CPN|||||||||||||3|3|2|7|6|5|4|4|3|7|6|8|10||||||||||||||||||
|* EVP|||||||||||||1||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|* PPR||||||||||||2|2|3|3|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|7|2|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|* PSP|||||||||||1|3|3|1|2|2|4|4|4|2|||||||||||||||||||||||
|VVD|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**24**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**34**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**33**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**41**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**31**|22|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|28|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|24|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|38|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|31|22|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|27|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|36|26|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|28|22|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|16|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|17|16|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|16|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|19|13|9|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|8|_6_|
|* PvdV|||||||||||||||||||||||||6||||||||||||||||||
|NSC|20||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|D66|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|9|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|24|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|19|12|10|3|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|6|7|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|14|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|24|12|9|6|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|17|8|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|6|11|7|||||||||||||||||
|BBB|7|1|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|CDA|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|5|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|15|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|19|13|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|21|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**41**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**44**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**43**|29|34|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**54**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**54**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**45**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**48**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**49**|_48_|_58_|_69_|_76_|_76_|_75_|_77_|_51_|_54_|_53_||||||
|* ARP||||||||||||||||bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**14**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**13**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|15|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**13**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|13|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|14|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|15|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|12|13|13||||||||||
|* CHU||||||||||||||||7|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|10|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|12|13|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|13|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|12|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|13|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|9|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|9|8|||||||||||
|* KVP||||||||||||||||bgcolor="#e8e08e"|27|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|35|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**42**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**50**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**50**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**49**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**49**|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|30|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|32|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|**32**||||||||
|SP|5|9|14|15|15|25|9|9|5|2|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|DENK|3|3|3||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|PvdD|3|6|5|2|2|2|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|FVD|3|8|2||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|SGP|3|3|3|3|2|2|2|2|3|2|3|3|3|3|3|3|3|3|3|3|3|3|2|2|2||||||||||||||||||
|CU|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|3|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|5|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|5|5|5|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|6|3|4|_5_|_5_|_3_|_2_|_3_|_3_|_1_|_2_|_2_|_1_|_1_|_1_|||||||||||||||||||
|* GPV|||||||||2|2|2|1|1|1|1|2|2|1|1|1|||||||||||||||||||||||
|* RPF|||||||||3|3|1|1|2|2|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|Volt|2|3|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|JA21|1|3|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|50+||1|4|2|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|BIJ1||1|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|LPF|||||||8|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|26||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|LN||||||||2|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|AOV||||||||||6|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|CD||||||||||3|1||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|DS'70|||||||||||||||1|6|bgcolor="#e8e08e"|8|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|BP|||||||||||||||1|3|1|7|3|3|||||||||||||||||||||||
|others||||||||||1|||1|||1|2||||||2|1|||||||||||||||||||

! PvdA and GL together 25 seats

## Related pages

- Speaker of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
- Senate (Netherlands)
- Politics of the Netherlands

## References

- www.kiesraad.nl (elections results)

## Infobox (legislature)

- **background color**: #cc0033
- **name**: House of Representatives
- **legislature**: States General of the Netherlands
- **coa pic**: Coat of arms of the Tweede Kamer.svg
- **house type**: Lower house
- **leader1 type**: President of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), President
- **leader1**: Martin-Bosma
- **party1**: Party for Freedom, PVV
- **election1**: 14 December 2023
- **leader2 type**: First Vice President
- **leader2**: Tom van der Lee
- **party2**: GreenLeft, GL-Labour Party (Netherlands), PvdA
- **election2**: 19 December 2023
- **leader3 type**: Second Vice President
- **leader3**: Roelien Kamminga
- **party3**: People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, VVD
- **election3**: 19 December 2023
- **members**: 150
- **structure1**: Tweede Kamer 2023.svg
- **structure1 res**: 250px
- **political groups1**: **Fourth Rutte cabinet, Government (41)**
*  People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, VVD (24)
*  Democrats 66, D66 (9)
*  Christian Democratic Appeal, CDA (5)
*  ChristianUnion, CU (3)
**Opposition (109)**
*  Party for Freedom, PVV (37)
*  GreenLeft, GL-Labour Party (Netherlands), PvdA (25)
*  New Social Contract, NSC (20)
*  BBB (7)
*  Socialist Party (Netherlands), SP (5)
*  DENK (3)
*  Party for the Animals, PvdD (3)
*  Forum for Democracy, FVD (3)
*  Reformed Political Party, SGP (3)
*  Volt Netherlands, Volt (2)
*  JA21 (1)
- **term length**: 4 years
- **voting system1**: Party-list proportional representation D'Hondt method
- **last election1**: 2023 Dutch general election, 22 November 2023
- **next election1**: November 2027 or earlier
- **session room**: Tweede kamer.jpg
- **meeting place**: House of Representatives Chamber
Binnenhof
The Hague, Netherlands