Parliament (called the Staten-Generaal) consists of two houses: the indirectly elected First Chamber, with 75 members who only have the power of veto in the legislative process, and the directly elected Second Chamber, whose 150 members control the government and propose legislation. Members of both houses serve a four-year term.

Direct elections to the Second Chamber of parliament are held every four years. A system of proportional representation is used in all Dutch elections, national and regional. This means that a party that wins 10% of the vote also occupies 10% of the seats in a representative assembly. The country is divided into 19 electoral districts during the elections to the Second Chamber, allowing parties to put up candidates who are well known in particular parts of the country. However, all the votes cast for each party in every district are counted together when the election results are tallied.

Parties register their names with the central polling station and submit a list of candidates for the forthcoming election. The central polling station may decide whether the party’s name is acceptable (to avoid confusion with other parties), but may not turn down an application for registration because of the party’s aims or behaviour. Candidates for elections to the Second Chamber must be nominated 43 days before voting takes place. Parties submit lists containing no more than 30 names of their nominees. However, if the party already holds more than 15 seats in the Second Chamber, they may submit twice as many names as the number of seats they hold, up to a maximum of 80.

Polling stations are set up in all municipalities and are designed to permit voting in secret. As many stations as possible must be accessible to the disabled. Voters receive a personally addressed card from the mayor at the very latest two weeks before polling day. Voting takes place between 08:00 and 21:00. Voters present their polling card and receive a ballot paper containing the lists of candidates submitted by all the parties. Votes are cast either by colouring a white circle next to the name of the candidate or by pressing buttons on a computerised voting machine. After the polling station closes, the votes are counted by the staff, and any voter who so wishes may attend the count. The official result is announced as soon as possible by the central polling station.

Seats are allocated to political parties in accordance with the system of proportional representation mentioned above. The total number of valid votes is divided by 150 (number of seats) which gives a quota that is used in further calculations to determine how many seats are allocated to each party. It can take as little as 0.66 percent of the overall vote to obtain a seat, which is one reason why there are so many political parties and movements represented in parliament. The first candidates to be assigned seats in the Second Chamber are those who have received a sufficient number of preferential votes, i.e. votes cast for that candidate in all the electoral districts added together. The remaining seats are allocated to the candidates in the order in which their names appear on their party’s list.

After the elections to the Second Chamber have been held, the government resigns and a process of negotiations starts between various parliamentary leaders who think they can form a coalition government that will control a majority in parliament. A person called a “formateur” is appointed to consult with each party regarding possible coalition partners. It usually takes several weeks, and sometimes a few months, before the formateur – the ” architect” of the new coalition – can accept a royal invitation to form a government. When this happens, the head of state (Queen Beatrix at present) formally appoints the cabinet ministers. If a political crisis causes the government to fall before the end of its four year term, this same process of bargaining will take place after new elections are held. The monarch also has the right to dissolve one or both houses of parliament, at which time new elections are held.