The new House of Representatives is much more diverse and younger

The new House of Representatives is much more colorful and younger than the previous one. About 15 percent of MPs are of non-Western origin, almost double that. This is clear from Trouw’s analysis of the election results.

The Chamber, which will be installed on Wednesday, will be a good reflection of the Dutch population. There the share is 14 percent. Despite this rejuvenation, the House does not lose any political experience.

Among the new MPs, 22 are of non-Western origin (with roots, for example, in Morocco, Turkey or Suriname). This is ten more than in the previous House of Representatives. The election results were officially announced on Friday by the Electoral Council.

With three Surinamese Dutch and a West Indian-Dutch deputy (at D66, ChristenUnie and BIJ1), there is, for the first time in several years, a representation of these population groups.

The House of Representatives is also getting younger: the number of young representatives is increasing by 30%. The new chamber has 26 members under the age of 35, six more than in the previous chamber. The youngest to take place will be the 22-year-old Frisian Habtamu de Hoop. Remarkably, this increase does not lead to a general rejuvenation of the House. The average age is, as before, around 44.5 years.

(Only) 5 more women

The increase in the number of women in the House is less significant, especially now that this election campaign places a heavy emphasis on women. Again there was the “Vote for a Woman” campaign. But the 2010 level, where 64 women were elected, will not yet reach the new House of Representatives. This time, 59 women are taking office, five more than in 2017. This somewhat delayed growth in the number of women may be linked to the loss of seats on the left. The number of women on the electoral roll is rare among the growing right-wing populist parties. At PvdA, the ratio has been half and half for years.

The experience is biased

With the arrival of four new parties, one wonders if the House of Representatives has enough internal experience to counter a cabinet. At first glance, this doesn’t sound so bad, according to a study by the Parliamentary Documentation Center at Leiden University. There will be 59 new MPs. It’s almost the same picture as in 2017, when there were 58 new faces.

The average amount of political experience also remains roughly the same: 4.1 years, a slight decrease (it was 4.3 years). The downside is that this experience is unevenly distributed. This is mainly the case with PVV, SP and SGP, where there are few shifts in the fractions.

Political experience is widely available, with 71% of new faces. They have already been deputy, adviser, alderman, commissioner or other post in local or regional politics. There are also several new MPs who were previously affiliated with a party as faction staff, but who are now active politicians. The business world is reasonably represented: 35% of the House of Representatives worked there. A blind spot is the cultural sector, with only 3% representation.

The vast majority come from Holland

A major problem remains the reflection of all regions of the country. No less than 59 percent of all seats are allocated to MPs from North Holland and South Holland. The people of Drenthe and Zeeland are doing badly, with only one MP each.

If you compare that with the population figures, you will see that some parts of the country are barely represented. In North Holland, 1 deputy for 44,000 inhabitants was elected. In Drenthe, 492,000 people receive a Drent in the Chamber, Agnès Mulder, member of the ADC.

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