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To: knighthawk
What is the prognosis for Lijst Pim Fortuyn on May 15th in the elections in Holland? Now that Pim has been assassinated, is there going to be more support for his party?

Also, I know he's still on the ballot, but how does voting work in Holland? Is it like England, where you represent a small district, and the winner of each district gets a seat in Parliament? Or is it like Germany where you elect a local representative, but also vote for a party and the party votes are allocated proportionally? Can everyone in Holland vote for Pim or only people who live in his district?

10 posted on 05/09/2002 10:21:55 AM PDT by Koblenz
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To: Koblenz
The voting in the Netherlands is based on absolute numbers. The party who get the most of the total votes, get the most of the seats in the Second Chamber. So no district system. So more like Germany.

There are 150 seats to divide. A government needs 76 votes. So there has to be a coalition of parties. The biggest party gets to appoint the minister-president, the second biggest the vice-minister-president.

Fortuyn was set to win the elections May 15 before he was killed. A report was presented the same day that he would become the biggest party by the same people who said he would win the local elections in Rotterdam. Everyone can vote on anyone on any list. Fortuyn was the leader, but there are 39 others you can put your vote on, just like the other (14) lists, although not all parties are big enough to put 40 people on the voting list.

Now he is dead the situation can go either way. Between 1- and 40 seats are possible. May people who would vote for him still will, and now many people will also vote for him now. To say to the political parties that demonized him, that democracy was killed when they incited hate against Fortuyn.

12 posted on 05/09/2002 10:46:09 AM PDT by knighthawk
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