Kiesrechtherovrming zonder grondwetswijziging? De consequenties van een kiesstelsel met 18 kiesdistricten en evenredige vertegenwoordiging

Abstract

In the Netherlands the system of proportional representation functions in such a way that, although there are eighteen administrative districts, the country as a whole counts as one district. In this article a recent suggestion to apply proportional representation to each of these eighteen districts is discussed. The results of such a system for the elections of 1956 and 1957 are shown in tables 1 and 2. The practical results are compared with the theoretical results under some possible combinations of party lists (’comb. I’ meaning that no combination of lists took place, ’comb. IF meaning that the lists of the confessional parties are combined, ’comb. IIP meaning that there are combinations of the confessional parties and the two main non-confessional parties [Liberal and Labour], ’comb. IV’ meaning that there are combinations of the confessional parties, the socialist parties [Labour, Pacifist, Communist] and parties of the ’right’ [Liberal, Farmers]). It is shown that such a reform of the electoral system would not cause the number of parties in parliament to diminish, that the numerical relations between the main parties would hardly change, that cabinet formation would be equally difficult and that the proposed reform would not lead to a two-party system.