2021 Hennish federal election

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2021 Hennish federal election
Hennehouwe
← 2017 3 September 2021 2025 →

All 180 seats in the Second Chamber
91 seats needed for a majority
Turnout81.0% (Increase 1.6%)
Party Leader % Seats ±
SAP Rupert van Bleiswijk 21.2 47 -2
NVP Fabian van Aitzema 19.8 41 +5
VDP Eva Kaestel 13.8 27 -13
Groen Bart van Veen & Lise Xi 10.0 21 +10
HvH Pieter Veer 8.5 14 New
HP Klaas-Jan Jagers 5.8 7 -9
Links Dirk Smolders 4.9 6 -1
VSD Margje Westerveld 4.2 7 +1
Redé Gaspard Toussaint 2.9 6 0
ABP Sharon Visscher 2.9 3 -2
Vox Christian Asscher 1.6 1 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Hennehouwe basic map chamber 2021.png
Premier before Premier
Informal meeting of ministers responsible for development (FAC). Arrivals Alexander De Croo (36766610160) (cropped2).jpg Rupert van Bleiswijk
SAP
Rupert van Bleiswijk
SAP
Informal meeting of ministers responsible for development (FAC). Arrivals Alexander De Croo (36766610160) (cropped2).jpg

Federal elections were held in Hennehouwe on 3 September 2021 to elect all 180 members of the 28th Second Chamber.

After several months of unofficial campaigning, the election was formally called by Premier Rupert van Bleiswijk on 21 July 2021, following assent by Stadtholder Adriaan Wilhelm Paulus, with the official campaign kicking off in earnest. Major issues that featured prominently during the election campaign included the debate over the Buy Euclean initiative, trade, employment, integration of immigrants and the financing of public servcies. The campaign was also marked by a number of incidents and controversies, most notably calls for a boycott of the election by members of the Zorasani parliament and the arrest of radical Irfani cleric Abdul Jabbaar el-Rasheed, which spawned violent protests in s'Holle and other cities.

The Socialist Labour Party (SAP) remained the largest party in the Second Chamber, albeit with a reduced number of seats and vote share, winning 47 seats and 21.2% of the vote respectively. The National Coalition Party finished in second place with 41 seats, an increase of five from the last election, with 19.8% of the vote. The Progressive Democratic Party (VDP) lost thirteen seats, the most of any party in the election, finishing with 27 seats and 13.8% of votes cast.

The Green Party had its best ever result at the federal level, winning 21 seats in total, an increase of ten, on 10.0% of the vote. However, the biggest winners of the election were the populist Heart of Hennehouwe (HvH), founded only eight months prior to the elections by businessman and former television personality Pieter Veer. The party won 14 seats and 8.5% of the national vote, defying all opinion poll projections and expectations, and winning a narrow plurality in Veer's home state of Upper Stegeren. The success of the HvH has been attributed to its focus on endorsing a "buying Hennish" economic policy, a strong social media campaign and a lack of association with the more radical far-right. By contrast, the Reform Party lost more than half of its seats to finish with seven, on a vote share of 5.8%, its worst since 2010.

Other small partes had mixed fortunes. The Left won six seats, a loss of one, on a reduced vote share of 4.9%. For Sotirian Democracy (VSD) gained a seat to win seven seats overall, despite a lower vote share (4.2%) than that of The Left. Redé retained its six seats from the previous election, whilst the Agrarian–Farmer's Party (ABP) lost two seats, finishing with three. The election also saw Vox entered the Second Chamber for the first time ever with a single seat gain in s'Holle, whilst LIVE lost all of its seats.

Turnout for this election stood at 81.0%, the highest in fifteen years, and up 1.5% from the previous election, with almost 9.9 million votes being cast.

Negotiations that followed the elections resulted in a new grand coalition between the two largest parties, the SAP and NVP, in addition to Redé, giving the new government an eight-seat majority. The new cabinet was sworn in 14 January 2022, three-and-a-half months following the election, with van Bleiswijk re-appointed as Premier and NVP leader Fabian van Aitzema elected Deputy Premier.

Background

The outcome of the previous federal election, held in 2017, resulted in the imcumbent centre-right coalition, led by the National Coalition Party (NVP), being replaced by a "purple" grand coalition of the Socialist Labour Party (SAP) and the Progressive Democratic Party (VDP). The leader of the SAP, Rupert van Bleiswijk, became Premier, replacing Michiel Hagan of the NVP. The coalition held 89 of the 180 seats in the Second Chamber, two seats short of an overall majority. As a result, confidence and supply arrangements with the Agrarian–Farmer's Party (ABP) and Redé were necessary to ensure the long-term viability of the government.

Of the ten parties represented in the outgoing Second Chamber, six have different leaders going into the 2021 election than they had in the previous election. Dirk Klaver was initially named the leader of the NVP in November 2017, but resigned in August 2019 following a leadership challange in the wake of poor election results, including the Euclean Parliament elections held earlier that year. He was replaced by current leader Fabian van Aitzema in September 2019. The Greens continued their policy of naming one man and one woman as co-leaders, electing Bart van Veen and Lise Xi to the joint position in March 2019. The leadership of The Left is renewed every year at its party conference, with Dirk Smolders being elected every year since 2018. Margje Westerveld and Sharon Visscher were elected as leaders of For Sotirian Democracy (VSD) and the ABP respectively – the first women to hold both roles. Sam Tarokh led the LIVE party from 2020 until July 2021, when he was ousted during party infighting. Tarokh subsequently resigned from the party and confirmed he would not run for the party in the upcoming election. On 19 July 2021, two days before the beginning of the campaign, the party named Elise Dumont Aguas as its new leader.

Date

Article 42.2 of the Basic Law (Algemene Wet) states that a new Second Chamber shall be elected no later than 28 days after the fourth anniversary of the first sitting of the current Second Chamber, excluding public holidays, and that the date of the election must be held no less than 28 days but no more than 56 days after the dissolution of the pevious Chamber. Article 42.3 states that the first sitting of the new Chamber must occur within 28 days after the election date, excluding public holidays.

The Electoral Law of 2000 legislates for fixed-term election dates, automatically scheduling an election for the first Friday of September four years after the previous election, or the second Friday of September if the former falls on a public holiday. An election prior to the fixed date can be called for in the Chamber via a two-thirds supermajority vote. Under the Law, the election was automatically scheduled for 3 September 2021.

Electoral system

The 180 members of the Second Chamber are elected by open list proportional representation in 10 multi-member constituencies corresponding to the 10 regions of Hennehouwe, with seats allocated according to the Berger method.

There is no electoral threshold, meaning the effective threshold depends on the size of the region: in the smallest region, Geeland (6 seats), the effective threshold is around 12%, whilst in the largest region, Flamia (42 seats), it is closer to 2-2.5%. Seats are allocated to the regions in proportion to population, with a review of seat distribution carried out one year after the last census. The allocation of seats remains unchanged from the 2017 election.

For an outright majority in the Chamber, a party (or coalition of parties) must have at least 91 seats. Due to the nature of Hennehouwe's multi-party system, it is rare for any one party to singlehandedly obtain a parliamentary majority, and thus coalitions and/or agreements between different parties is necessary.

Electors vote by casting a preference for a personal candidate from their chosen list, rather than voting for a party list outright. If a candidate receives a quota of either 20% of 1/xth of votes (x equalling the number of seats in that region) or 33% of the total votes for their own list, they will bypass the rest of the list in the allocation of seats regardless of their placement on the electoral list. If multiple candidates from a list pass this threshold, their ordering is determined based on the number of votes received. Otherwise, the remaining seats are allocated according to the placement of candidates on the list. In regions with more than 24 seats, parties are limited to a maximum number of candidates equating to two-thirds the total number of seats. Due to the current distribution of seats, only Flamia and Lower Stegeren are affected by this change. In all other regions, the maximum number of candidates on a list is the total number of seats.

Region Seats
Flamia 42
Geeland 6
Grotevlakte 20
Lower Stegeren 35
Molenburg 17
Oudkessel-Witburg 8
Reekland 10
s'Holle 18
Upper Stegeren 14
Zilverzee 10
 Hennehouwe 180

Parties and leaders

In order to participate in the elections, a party or list of candidates must provide declarations of support by 0.05% of all votes cast in the previous election in each region contested, as well as a deposit of €1,800 in each region contested. This deposit is refunded to lists who obtain 1% of the vote in the region contested.

On 12 August 2021, the Electoral Commission announced that 31 parties had met the requirements to participate in the elections in at least one region. These include all ten parties represented in the outgoing legislature, as well as 21 other lists. Thirteen parties will contest all ten regions.

Parties represented in the 27th Second Chamber
Party Leader Main ideology Position 2017 result Pre-election
seats
Regions
contesting
Votes (%) Seats
Socialist Labour Party SAP Rupert van Bleiswijk Social democracy Centre-left 23.2%
49 / 180
49 / 180
10
Progressive Democratic Party VDP Eva Kaestal Social liberalism Centre 19.0%
40 / 180
40 / 180
10
National Coalition Party NVP Fabian van Aitzema Conservatism Centre-right 18.0%
36 / 180
36 / 180
10
Reform Party HP Klaas-Jan Jagers Right-wing populism Right-wing to far-right 9.6%
16 / 180
15 / 180
10
Green Party Groen Bart van Veen & Lise Xi Green politics Centre-left 6.8%
11 / 180
11 / 180
10
The Left Links Dirk Smolders Democratic socialism Left-wing 5.6%
7 / 180
7 / 180
10
For Sotirian Democracy VSD Margje Westerveld Sotirian right Centre-right to right-wing 4.9%
6 / 180
6 / 180
10
Redé Redé Gaspard Toussaint Petois minority interests Centre 2.9%
6 / 180
6 / 180
3
Agrarian–Farmer's Party ABP Sharon Visscher Agrarianism Centre-right 3.6%
5 / 180
5 / 180
10
LIVE – The Liberal Union LIVE Elise Dumont Aguas Classical liberalism Centre to centre-right 3.5%
4 / 180
2 / 180
10
Independents Onaf.
0 / 180
3 / 180

The following parties do not currently have any seats in the legislature, but are confirmed to be competing in the election.

Extra-parliamentary parties participating in the 2021 federal election
Party Leader Main ideology Position 2017 result Regions
contesting
Votes (%)
Independent Hennish Section of the Workers' International OHSAI Pieter Godeke Council communism Far-left 0.2% 10
Oopsie Woopsie Party owo Tchuu Tchuu Joke party Syncretic 0.2% 10
Heart of Hennehouwe HvH Pieter Veer Populism Right-wing did not exist 10
Vox Hennehouwe Vox Christian Asscher Euclofederalism Centre did not exist 10
Catholic Labour Party KAP Leendert Wijgmonds Social conservatism Centre-right to right-wing 0.3% 8
Red Party Rode Ana Joshi & Max van Daal Council communism Far-left did not exist 8
Future Hennehouwe Future Ellen Peterson Radical centrism Centre 0.7% 7
Party for the Senior Citizens PvdB Diana De Wever Pensioners' interests Centre 0.2% 7
Green Conservatives GC Hanneke Schrotenboer Green conservatism Centre-right did not exist 7
Sustainable Hennehouwe DH Alessia Simonini Sustainability Centre-left did not exist 7
The V Party DeV Annamieke de Burg Animal welfare Left-wing 0.3% 6
Sotirian Confessional Union SCU Jan-Hendrik van Erp Social conservatism Right-wing 0.1% 5
Basic Income Party BIP Inès De Loof Universal basic income Centre-left did not exist 5
For Freedom VV Philippe Steenput Right-wing populism Far-right did not exist 5
Direct Democracy Now! DDNU Rinus Rhezerkamp Direct democracy Centre 0.1% 4
Hennish Brotherhood HB Stefaan Keijzer Hennish nationalism Far-right 0.1% 4
Liberal Party LP Benjamin Perak Libertarianism Right-wing 0.1% 4
Spiritus Spir Siske Schumer-Pagavi Humanism Syncretic did not exist 2
The 99% – For The Many 99% Femke Asscher Left-wing populism Left-wing did not exist 2
Avant Petois AP Florent Deschamps Petois minority interests Centre-left did not exist 1
Dermaux List LD Alan Dermaux Regionalism Centre did not exist 1

Campaign

Debates

Hennish federal election debates, 2021
Date Organisers Channel     P  Present    A  Absent invitee   NI  Non-invitee  Notes
SAP VDP NVP MdP Groen Links VSD Redé ABP LIVE HvH
12 August Mediacentre ATV P
van Bleiswijk
P
Kaestel
P
van Aitzema
P
Jagers
P
van Veen
P
Smolders
P
Westerveld
P
Toussaint
P
Visscher
P
Dumont Aguas
NI
17 August Nous Nous
(Estmerish)
P
de Boer
P
Martin
P
Brugmans
P
Jakobs-Davidson
P
Xi
NI NI NI NI NI NI Debate in Estmerish.
18 August Nous
(Gaullican)
P
van Bleiswijk
P
Kaestel
P
Dior
P
Rousseau
P
van Veen
NI NI P
Toussaint
NI P
Dumont Aguas
NI Debate in Gaullican.
23 August HNO De Eerste P
van Bleiswijk
P
Kaestel
P
van Aitzema
P
Jagers
P
Xi
P
Smolders
P
Westerveld
P
Toussaint
P
Visscher
P
Dumont Aguas
P
Veer
Split into two debates of six and five.
30 August HNO De Tweede NI NI NI NI NI P
Smolders
P
Westerveld
P
Toussaint
P
Visscher
P
Dumont Aguas
P
Veer
31 August HNO,
Mediacentre
De Eerste,
ATV
P
van Bleiswijk
P
Kaestel
P
van Aitzema
P
Jagers
P
Xi
NI NI NI NI NI NI

Endorsements

Individuals

Socialist Labour Party
Progressive Democratic Party
National People's Party
  • Henrik Jorśsun, Azmaran politician and Vice-President of the Province of Westmaark
Patriot's March
Heart of Hennehouwe
Green Party

Organisations and political parties

Socialist Labour Party
Progressive Democratic Party
National People's Party
Patriot's March
Heart of Hennehouwe
Green Party

Opinion polls

Graphical summary of the average of polls conducted for the federal election since September 2017.

Results

Preliminary results were finalised on the morning of 4 September, and the official result was published on 8 September.

Hennish election results 2021.svg
Party Votes % Seats +/–
Socialist Labour Party 2,087,547 21.21 47 Decrease2
National Coalition Party 1,951,314 19.83 41 Increase5
Progressive Democratic Party 1,360,372 13.82 27 Decrease13
Green Party 980,999 9.97 21 Increase10
Heart of Hennehouwe 835,859 8.49 14 New
Reform Party 567,367 5.76 7 Decrease9
The Left 483,272 4.91 6 Decrease1
For Sotirian Democracy 412,736 4.19 7 Increase1
Redé 288,381 2.93 6 0
Agrarian–Farmer's Party 285,734 2.90 3 Decrease2
Vox Hennehouwe 160,439 1.63 1 New
LIVE – The Liberal Union 117,899 1.20 0 Decrease4
Red Party 107,921 1.10 0 New
Avant Petois 31,594 0.32 0 New
Catholic Labour Party 24,096 0.24 0 0
Oopsie Woopsie Party 20,730 0.21 0 0
Future Hennehouwe 20,364 0.21 0 0
The V Party 18,155 0.18 0 0
Sotirian Confessional Union 13,150 0.13 0 0
Sustainable Hennehouwe 13,014 0.13 0 New
Green Conservatives 9,752 0.10 0 New
Independent Hennish Section of the Workers' International 8,919 0.09 0 0
Party for the Senior Citizens 8,017 0.08 0 0
Basic Income Party 7,532 0.08 0 New
For Freedom 6,804 0.07 0 New
Liberal Party 5,298 0.05 0 0
Dermaux List 5,265 0.05 0 New
Hennish Brotherhood 4,156 0.04 0 0
Direct Democracy Now 2,557 0.03 0 0
The 99% – For The Many 1,880 0.02 0 New
Spiritus 811 0.01 0 New
Total 9,841,934 100.00 180 0
Valid votes 9,841,934 99.45
Invalid/blank votes 54,850 0.55
Total votes cast 9,896,784 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 12,222,286 80.97
Source: Verkiezingscommissie

Results by constituency

Region SAP NVP VDP Groen HvH HP Links VSD Redé ABP Vox Total seats
% S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S
Flamia 22.4 11 21.2 10 11.7 5 10.5 5 7.6 3 6.4 3 5.1 2 2.7 1 3.6 1 2.0 1 1.9 42
Geeland 16.5 1 28.8 2 10.5 1 5.4 11.6 1 6.6 3.1 9.8 1 5.9 0.6 6
Grotevlakte 24.2 6 22.4 5 12.0 2 8.1 2 11.0 2 6.4 1 3.2 4.8 1 4.1 1 0.9 20
Lower Stegeren 19.7 8 21.4 9 13.6 5 9.7 4 9.1 3 6.8 2 4.5 1 6.5 2 3.2 1 1.6 35
Molenburg 19.1 4 10.3 2 15.0 3 11.4 2 2.6 3.4 5.4 1 0.8 20.4 5 1.6 1.4 17
Oudkessel-Witburg 16.8 2 23.5 3 20.3 2 9.1 1 5.5 4.4 6.4 1.6 5.7 3.9 1.4 8
Reekland 19.2 2 25.6 3 18.1 2 7.0 1 6.8 1 5.6 3.2 7.4 1 3.8 0.9 10
s'Holle 25.9 6 13.6 3 16.4 3 14.2 3 4.0 5.5 1 8.1 1 1.0 0.8 4.1 1 18
Upper Stegeren 17.0 3 20.1 3 10.9 2 6.1 1 22.4 4 4.2 3.4 7.8 1 5.4 0.6 14
Zilverzee 27.7 4 11.4 1 17.8 2 17.6 2 2.7 5.6 7.5 1 1.4 0.6 2.0 10
Hennehouwe Hennehouwe 21.2 47 19.8 41 13.8 27 10.0 21 8.5 14 5.8 7 4.9 6 4.2 7 2.9 6 2.9 3 1.6 1 180
  1. "@halivarzoe". Chirper. 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  2. "@AZThingspeaker". Chirper. 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.