Number of Seats in Each States-Provincial
The size of a States-Provincial ranges from 39 members for a province with less than 400,000 inhabitants to 55 members for a province with more than 2.000.000 inhabitants.
Before 2007, it ranged from 39 members for a province with less than 200,000 inhabitants to 83 members for a province with more than 2,500,000 inhabitants. As a consequence of a change to the Provinciewet, starting at the States-Provincial elections of 7 March 2007, the total number of States-Provincial members was reduced from 764 to 564. A survey of the change in seats per province:
| Province | Seats after 2007 | Seats before 2007 |
|---|---|---|
| Groningen | 43 | 55 |
| Friesland | 43 | 55 |
| Drenthe | 41 | 51 |
| Overijssel | 47 | 63 |
| Flevoland | 39 | 47 |
| Gelderland | 53 | 75 |
| Utrecht | 47 | 63 |
| Noord-Holland | 55 | 83 |
| Zuid-Holland | 55 | 83 |
| Zeeland | 39 | 47 |
| Noord-Brabant | 55 | 79 |
| Limburg | 47 | 63 |
| TOTAL | 564 | 764 |
A consequence of this reduction in the number of seats is that the election threshold (the minimum number of votes needed for a party to gain at least one seat in an assembly) has risen. Depending on the province, the threshold now lies between 1.5% and over 2% of the votes. Because of this, it has become harder for small parties to win a seat. This may also have consequences for the representation of small parties in the Senate, which is elected by the members of the States-Provincial.
Read more about this topic: States-Provincial
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