Text 7576, 108 rader
Skriven 2010-05-05 19:55:42 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
   Kommentar till text 7441 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Question about democracy
================================
30 Apr 10 15:47, Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Roy Witt:

 RW>>>> Then explain the procedure...

 MvdV>>> The procedure for what? I already explained the procedure for
 MvdV>>> allotting time to speakers. What more is there to explain?

 RW>> Oh, things like who is directly elected by the people,

 MvdV> Members of Parliament.
 MvdV> Members of the Municipal Counsel
 MvdV> Members of the Provincial Counsel
 MvdV> Members of the "Waterschappen".  (Water counsels)

And the procedure that puts them in office is.

 RW>> how the seats of your national parliament are distributed,

 MvdV> Proportional to the number of votes for the party rounded down to a
 MvdV> whole number of seats.

IOW, no citizen representation, just party representation.

 RW>> the d'Hont method of filling seats after the distribution has left
 RW>> some seats vacant,

 MvdV> Yes, the d'Hont method is used.

Explain the d'Hont method.

 RW>> how one becomes a candidate

 MvdV> Two ways:

 MvdV> 1) By joining a political party and get the party to put you on
 MvdV> their list of candidates.

Ahhh, again no citizen representation, just party representation.

 MvdV> 2) Register as an independent candidate.

 MvdV> Registering is by voting area. There are 19 voting areas.
 MvdV> Candidates or parties need not register in all areas.

True to representation of the people.

 MvdV> New parties
 MvdV> or new individual candidates must show support from at least 30
 MvdV> voters in the areas where they register. There is also a fee of EUR
 MvdV> 11.250 that will be returned if the party or candidate gets at
 MvdV> least one set.

Not deriding your system, but in America, there is no need for anyone to
have support from any amount of people to register to run for office. Of
course you will soon find out that you may have more than 30 during a
primary election. Primary elections here elect the candidates for the fall
election. Only those with a certain amount of citizen support will be
allowed to continue past the primary election.

 MvdV> Candidats must be 18 years old or older, be Dutch citizens and live
 MvdV> in The Netherlands.

Of course.

 RW>>  who is 'next-in-line' on the list of the same party which
 RW>> previously held the seat, etc., etc..

 MvdV> It is up to the party to determine the order of the candidates on
 MvdV> the list. If the party gets N seats, normally the first N
 MvdV> candidates on the list get a seat.

No one candidate wins all and is seated in the seat he ran for election?

 MvdV> However, the voters are presented with a list of all candidates.
 MvdV> One usually votes for the first on the list of a party, thereby
 MvdV> effectively voting for the party. But voters can vote for a
 MvdV> specific candidate. If a candidate gets more then 25% of the votes
 MvdV> needed for one seat, he/she get the status of "preferred candidate"
 MvdV> which effectively moves them to the top of their party's list.

There's that party list again.

 RW>> The last one seems to me to be someone who was elected but is not
 RW>> seated for some reason...odd that.

 MvdV> Then the seat goes to the next one on the party's list. Same
 MvdV> happens if for some reason a member leaves prematurely.

And different than it is here as well.

 RW>> In America one is elected to a seat in Congress and there isn't
 RW>> anyone else who can be assigned (distributed) to the same seat.
 RW>> Whish is truely representative government, btw...

 MvdV> Missionaries always claim that their faith is the only true
 MvdV> faith...

In the above case, were it to be in America, when someone is elected to a
seat in government, we can expect that candidate to be seated, regardless
of his party affiliation.  The only way a party can become the majority is
by chance that their party has the majority of candidates whom were
elected by the people. The missionaries have nothing to do with it.

                R\%/itt

    You can put lipstick on a pig, but the pig still stinks!
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