The Speaker of the House of Representatives ( nl, Voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal) is one of the 150 members of the

House of Representatives of the Netherlands The House of Representatives (, pronounced ; commonly referred to as the ', literally "Second Chamber of the States General") is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. ...

, elected to lead the meetings of the House. The Speaker also chairs the Chamber's Presidium and the Procedure Committee ('). Prior to the 1982 constitutional revision, the Speaker was appointed by the Crown. The office is currently held by

Vera Bergkamp Vera Alida Bergkamp (; born 1 June 1971) is a Dutch politician. A member of the Democrats 66 (D66) party, she has been a member of the House of Representatives since 20 September 2012. On 7 April 2021, she was elected Speaker of the House of ...

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

(D66). She was elected to succeed

Khadija Arib Khadija Arib (; ar, خديجة عريب; born 10 October 1960) is a Moroccan-Dutch politician of the Labour Party, who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands from 12 December 2015 to 7 April 2021. In the 2016 Sp ...

. She was on her turn

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

on 13 January 2016 in an interim election, after Speaker

Anouchka van Miltenburg Anouchka van Miltenburg (born 20 April 1967) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). She was the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 25 September 2012 until 12 December 2015 and served as a ...

of the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD) resigned on 12 December 2015. She was First Deputy and Acting Speaker until her election.

Duties

As a member of the House of Representatives, the Speaker has the same rights and obligations as other members. The Speaker leads the meetings of the House. The officeholder opens and closes the meetings and determines who speaks. The members of the House, as well as Ministers and State Secretaries are not supposed to address each other directly, but always address the Speaker instead, as a method to encourage civility. While the Speaker also takes part in the voting (as a regular member of the House of Representatives), the officeholder typically does not participate in debates. Besides leading the meetings, the Speaker represents the House of Representatives as a whole, such as in ceremonies and with visits by foreign heads of state. The Speaker is also the chair of the Presidium, which is responsible for determining the budget of the House, setting its agenda and appointing its staff. The Speaker is supported by Deputy Speakers, ranked by number in order of precedence, which also are members of the House. If the Speaker is unable to fulfill their duties or the position becomes vacant, then the meeting is chaired by the First Deputy Speaker. The Speaker has a seat with a backrest that is higher than the other seats in the House.

Election

The Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Representatives. Such an election takes place shortly after a

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

or after the position became vacant. The House adopts a profile that outlines the desired qualities that potential candidates should have, such as prior experience and personal traits. The profile is not binding, however. Members can submit their candidacy, but this is not required. The election itself requires the participation of at least 76 members. To win the election, a Member needs to obtain an absolute majority of the votes cast (more than 50%). The voting takes place by open and

secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote ...

, which means that Members have to write down the name of the preferred Member themselves and that the vote is not disclosed. Members can choose between writing down the name of one of the candidates, the name of any other Member (whether they are standing or not), something invalid or nothing at all. An election requires multiple voting rounds when no member wins an absolute majority. If there is no winner after two rounds, the rules of voting are different. In the third round, the list of members who were voted for in the second round is definitive. In addition, the number of eligible members is limited, depending on the number of members who received votes in the second round. If fewer than five members received votes then all members except the two frontrunners are eliminated from the election, otherwise only four frontrunners remain. In the fourth round, only the two frontrunners are eligible, any other votes are deemed invalid. If both members have the same number of votes, the election is decided by lot.

Members of the Presidium

References

External links

{{Commons category, Speakers of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
President of the House
at the website of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

House of Representatives (Netherlands) Legislative speakers in the Netherlands

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...