Electorial List Distribution
Holland is over represented in its 150 house of representatives
Currently there seems to be a widening gap between the cities and the country side in the Netherlands. To what extend this is actual gap or perceived gap is under debate (in Dutch).
This R spielerei has set out to determine if the representatives are derived equally from all over the country or if there is a bias from the western provinces. Western provinces, south and north Holland, are most densely populated and have important major cities.
Background:
The Dutch have multi party system with an electoral list which generally tends to be country wide. Ranking sets importance of a candidate as well it determines the likelihood of being elected. Few candidates, other than the top candidates, receive enough votes to be directly elected. Lower ranked candidates might move up when higher ranked candidates forego their seat, e.g. to be cabinet ministers. District specific candidates occur at the end the list, these candidates are considered to the pushing the list and are not intended to become representatives.
Approach:
Electoral lists were retrieved from the official Dutch kiesraad.nl for 2021 and for 2017. Using the CBS R package populations per city ("Woonplaats") were retrieved. Electoral lists were trimmed down to their actual results in respectively 2021 and 2017.
2021 Tweede Kamer results
2021 results. On the left image it shows the ratio of population to members of parliament. It runs down the list, starting with the number one on each party list running down till number 34. Lighter colors indicate a relative higher number of members compared to inhabitants.
On the right image it shows how the members of parliament are distributed over the country irrespective of number of inhabitants. Darker colours indicate more members.
2017 Tweede Kamer results
On the left image it shows the ratio of population to members of parliament. It runs down the list, starting with the number one on each party list running down till number 33. Lighter colors indicate a relative higher number of members compared to inhabitants.
On the right image it shows how the members of parliament are distributed over the country irrespective of number of inhabitants. Darker colours indicate more members.
Goal is to determine three things
Where are the candidates coming from for the Dutch house of representatives
Is this representative for the Dutch population?
Is this representative for their electoral base?
Data sources:
Results election (2021)