Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
THE HAGUE--As expected, the Dutch coalition cabinet has lost its majority in the Dutch Parliament's First Chamber, forcing it to look outside the three friendly opposition parties for support.
The 570 members of the 12 provincial councils in the Netherlands cast their votes for the First Chamber on Tuesday, meaning the make-up of the First Chamber reflects the results of March's provincial vote.
After the vote, the ruling conservative VVD remains the biggest party in the 75-member Senate with 13 seats, a loss of three compared with four years ago.
Centre-democrat D66 is second with 10 seats after this party doubled its 2011 total.
The anti-immigration Party for Freedom PVV and the Socialist Party (SP) now both have nine seats, while junior coalition partner Labour PvdA has eight seats after its loss of six.
The minor religious parties ChristenUnie and SGP, which together with D66 prop up the coalition in the First Chamber, respectively won three and two seats. This means the coalition and the so-called "friendly opposition" can only count on 36 of the 75 seats in the First Chamber.
In total, there are 12 parties represented in the Senate, four of which only have one or two members.
D66 leader Alexander Pechtold said the fact that his party has doubled its support will significantly increase its influence. "And that is needed to finally get this cabinet to start creating jobs and cutting taxes," he said.
