Are the social-democrats getting enough seats in the Dutch Senate

This weekend, the Dutch social-democrat PvdA will decide on the list of candidates for the Senate election this spring. The party isn’t doing too well in the polls, but it may be facing an additional problem, as the charts below illustrate.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, the PvdA has nearly always had a weaker position in the Senate than in the Lower House. The main exception is 2002, when the Lower House election took place within days after the murder of rightwing populist Pim Fortuyn and the PvdA, seen by many as a symbol of the establishment, temporarily lost half its seats.

The relatively weak position of the PvdA in the Senate may be a coincidence, but it could also be related to turnout. In elections for the provincial councils, which in turn elect the Senate, almost half the voters stay at home (compared to a 75–80% turnout in Lower House elections). It may well be that the way in which the Senate is elected has a negative impact on the outcome for the PvdA.

Sources

Data from the Election Council and Wikipedia (e.g., EK and TK). Data and script are available here.