The forming parties PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB have not yet come closer together. If the quartet cannot reach an agreement, constitutional law professor Wim Voermans does not expect new elections to be called. That would be unique, he says in the radio program Sven op 1.
If there have been elections, as was the case in November last year, a new cabinet must be set up. If that does not work, “new elections will automatically take place in 2028,” says Voermans. “That’s in the Constitution.”
‘Wilders can say whatever he wants’
If it is desired to hold new elections before then, the government – the current outgoing cabinet in consultation with the king – must first dissolve the House of Representatives. “What is in any case not possible is for the House to vote for new elections,” said Voermans.
Not even if current informants Elbert Dijkgraaf and Richard van Zwol note in their report in a few weeks that a successful formation with the negotiating parties is not an option. And not even if PVV leader Geert Wilders, as the largest party, asks for it, or threatens to submit a motion for this. “He can shout whatever he wants, or submit a motion. But it is a popular misunderstanding that a motion must always be carried out.”
‘Do not call elections lightly’
Calling new elections means that one cabinet will dissolve the House for the second time. That has not happened since 1868. “This cabinet will not quickly use the emergency brake of another election within one year.”
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He continues: “You don’t lightly call elections when things are going wrong. That’s just not possible. Look at municipalities and provinces. Interim dissolution does not even exist there. We only know this in the House of Representatives and that is a last resort. As one cabinet, you don’t use that twice.”
Not happened since 1868
In 1848, the Netherlands became a parliamentary democracy. Since then, the cabinet, with a then still supreme king, has had to deal with the House of Representatives. “They were used to doing everything on their own and now they suddenly had to be held accountable,” says Voermans.
That’s where things went wrong too. There were elections in 1866 and they did not go at all as the then King Willem III wanted. Forming a cabinet did not get off the ground and relations were very difficult. It clashed on all sides, so it was concluded: things cannot continue like this. Then the king said, ‘Then dissolve in the House.’ And so it happened.
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New elections were called, but the outcome was virtually the same. Around the same time, King William III decided to sell Luxenburg to France. As a result, the Netherlands almost ended up in a war with Germany. “The House was on its hind legs. William III had endangered the country,” says the professor.
William III was furious that the House of Representatives made this a problem. It bothered him so deeply that he decided to dissolve the House again. The second time, by the same cabinet. At the next elections, the House met again in the same composition. Then the king resigned himself to it. “From that moment on, in 1868, we have the rule: you cannot dissolve the House twice by the same cabinet. It has not happened since then,” said Voermans.
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Wilders puts a ‘bomb under the formation’ with a speech at an ultra-conservative meeting in Hungary
By: Vick ten Wolde
