[url]http://www.hudson-ny.org/1400/dutch-establishment-rejects-election-results[/url]
[release][B]Dutch Establishment Rejects Election Results[/B]
Dutch Queen Beatrix does not like Member of Parliament Geert Wilders, the winner of the recent elections in the Netherlands; she is attempting to prevent the formation of a right-wing coalition that includes him.
The maneuvers to exclude Mr. Wilders have angered ordinary Dutchmen. Asked to comment on television, many voters could be heard complaining, "What is the use of going to vote when we are not listened to anyway?"
June's general elections in the Netherlands resulted in a clear victory for the right. The Dutch Constitution, however, grants the Queen the power to appoint a person (or persons) of her choice to initiate and direct negotiations for the formation of a government coalition. By appointing the Labor politician Herman Tjeenk Willink to the position of formation facilitator, the Queen has made it clear that she wants a coalition that includes the Labor Party and excludes the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders.
An opinion poll taken last week shows that the Christian-Democrats would fall to the historic low level of 17 seats, while Mr. Wilders' PVV would become the largest party in the country with 30 seats, ahead of the Liberals (28 seats) and Labor (27 seats).
Following the elections, Mr. Wilders said: "We want to be part of the new government. More security, less crime, less immigration, less Islam – that is what the Netherlands has chosen … I don't think other parties can ignore us." He seems, however, to have overlooked the power of the monarch.
For months, rumors have been circulating that the 72-year old Queen has postponed resigning in favor of her son, 43-year old Prince Willem-Alexander of Orange, until after the 2010 elections because she wants to thwart Mr. Wilders' governmental ambitions. Although unelected, the Dutch monarch plays the decisive role in the government formation, and can easily bypass the electorate. This week, Afshin Ellian, a 44-year old Dutch professor of law at Leiden University, criticized the Queen for her role in obstructing a right-wing government.
Prof. Ellian came to the Netherlands in 1989 as a political refugee from Iran. He is a human rights activist and one of the Netherlands' most outspoken critics of Islam. "Sometimes one learns more about political and constitutional realities in two weeks than other times in decades," Ellian wrote on his blog. "Queen Beatrix," he said," has lost her impartiality in the eyes of many right-wing Dutchmen, The major winners of the past elections, namely the VVD and the PVV, have not been able to play a decisive role in the formation of a new cabinet."
On June 9, 2010, the Liberal VVD became the largest party in the Netherlands. It won 31 of the 150 seats in the Dutch House of Representatives, compared to 22 in the 2006 general election. The largest winner of the election, however, was the PVV, the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders, which won 24 seats, compared to only 9 in 2006. The parties of the resigning center-left coalition of Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende suffered considerable losses. Mr. Balkenende's own Christian-Democrat CDA fell to 21 seats from 41; the Labor Party fell to 30 seats from 33; and the Christian Union (CU) fell to 5 seats from 6.
Theoretically, the electorate's major swing to the right allows VVD-leader Mark Rutte to form a government with Mr. Wilders' PVV and the Christian-Democrats. This coalition would have 76 of the 150 seats and could count on the support of the small right-wing Protestant party SGP (2 seats) and perhaps even the CU (5 seats). Such a VVD-PVV-CDA coalition is that preferred by Mr. Rutte and also by the Dutch electorate. As this coalition would, however, be critical of immigration, multiculturalism, Islam, and the centralization projects of the European Union, while also being one the most pro-Israeli governments in the world, the Dutch political establishment is dreading a Rutte-Wilders cabinet.
Consequently, the CDA, which, as one of the Netherlands' traditional government parties closely linked to the Dutch establishment, was reluctant to start negotiations with VVD and PVV. Some in the CDA, moreover, argue that the CDA, as the greatest loser of the elections, should go into opposition. By appointing Herman Tjeenk Willink as her informer and representative in the coalition talks, the Queen has made it clear that she wants Labor to be part of the coalition. Before the elections, Labor explicitly stated that it would not form a government with the PVV. With the Labor politician Tjeenk Willink in the key role, it is obvious that the Queen is directing the Netherlands towards her own preference: a centrist coalition of Liberals, Laborites and Christian-Democrats. Such a coalition would have 82 seats. If the CDA preferred to join the opposition, a leftist coalition -- of Liberals, Laborites, and the left-liberals of D66 and the Green Left Party -- would be another possibility (81 seats). Another alternative, in case Mr. Rutte refuses to go along with the Queen's schemes, would be a leftist coalition of Laborites, Christian-Democrats, D66, the Greens and the CU (76 seats).
"The elite of the Left and the regents absolutely want to avoid the risk of a cabinet with Wilders," writes Prof. Ellian. "Wilders has been preliminarily excluded without the elite even considering negotiations with him." Ellian further points out that this is not just an injustice to Mr. Wilders, but also to his 1.5 million voters "who have been excluded from an important political process without as much as one relevant argument."
Mr. Tjeenk Willink, says Prof. Ellian, is now the Dutch "Viceroy," who has to neutralize both Messrs. Wilders and Rutte. The former because his outspokenness on issues such as Islam has made him unacceptable to the Dutch ruling establishment and the international elite; the latter because he has stated that his political priorities include an economic austerity program and a reduction of immigration levels.
Consequently, Queen Beatrix and her advisor Tjeenk Willink must maneuver very carefully. If they fail to put together a government without the PVV, there might be new elections, resulting in such a strong position for Mr. Wilders that one will not be able to exclude him.[/release]
Democracy's a bitch, eh?
It's the weed finally starting to take effect.
I find it funny how the monarchy could wield so much power. In the UK the Queen basically provides a rubber stamping service, and if she were to act otherwise it would probably end up with the monarchy being completely shut out of the running of the state.
we want more guns and less brown people, says netherlands
no lol, says the queen
I say we remove any power from the queen, so she only has a ceremonial role.
It's ridiculous that a monarch still has influence in a western world.
Bullshit news. The negotiator is a neutral person. It's all rightwing propaganda to put leftwing politicians in a bad light.
Lets make something clear first. The Dutch parliament is not the same as the US parliament. The US have basically two main parties, Republicans and Democrats. Right and left. The Dutch have many, many more parties, some right, some left, some more right/left than the others. In a Dutch parliament, these parties all have to cooperate to get things done.
Geert Wilders has constantly provoked, offended and taunted other parties. He's made nothing but demands, and is unwilling to cooperate with others. Obviously, if you piss people off that you're going to have to work with, these people will not want to work with you. It's all his own damn fault. If anyone is letting the voters down, it's Geert Wilders himself, because he's clearly showing he doesn't want to be in the parliament.
[QUOTE=innerfire34;23257781]we want more guns and less brown people, says netherlands
no lol, says the queen[/QUOTE]
There were never any discussions or debates about guns, firearm possession has always been restricted.
[QUOTE=toxicpiano;23257672]I find it funny how the monarchy could wield so much power. In the UK the Queen basically provides a rubber stamping service, and if she were to act otherwise it would probably end up with the monarchy being completely shut out of the running of the state.[/QUOTE]
I'm not sure about the King of Norway or the King of Belgium, but at least the Queen of The Netherlands, the Queen of England and the King of Spain have the right to cancel any decision taken by the Parlament (ofcourse, as long as it doesn't involve the King or Queen him/herself).
[QUOTE=Kendra;23257869]I'm not sure about the King of Norway or the King of Belgium, but at least the Queen of The Netherlands, the Queen of England and the King of Spain have the right to cancel any decision taken by the Parlament (ofcourse, as long as it doesn't involve the King or Queen him/herself).[/QUOTE]
while in the UK the monarchy has the right to do so, it is extraordinarily unlikely that she would ever do so due to the political uproar that would follow. By de-facto she now performs basically a ceremonial role, even though by de jure she has more power than that.
[QUOTE=toxicpiano;23257936]while in the UK the monarchy has the right to do so, it is extraordinarily unlikely that she would ever do so due to the political uproar that would follow. By de-facto she now performs basically a ceremonial role, even though by de jure she has more power than that.[/QUOTE]
She retains her powers through tradition, if she ever tried to exercise them in an way other than what she is commanded, they would be removed.
Not to mention half of the ceremonies she has to attend are basically parliament mocking the shit out of the monarchy anyway.
[QUOTE=O'10er;23257554]Democracy's a bitch, eh?[/QUOTE]
It's fun, awesome, the best thing in the world, until you lose.
Geert Wilders is the Dutch equivalent of Nick Griffin.
Ordinarily I'd be appalled by this decision by the Queen, but on this occasion, good job.
I speak for Sweden when I say: Welcome to the pseudodemocracy club, Netherlands! :buddy:
[QUOTE=toxicpiano;23257672]I find it funny how the monarchy could wield so much power. In the UK the Queen basically provides a rubber stamping service, and if she were to act otherwise it would probably end up with the monarchy being completely shut out of the running of the state.[/QUOTE]
Some time in the 1800s or early 1900s the House of Lords, when they had power said "Lol no fuck your education shit because we say so" because it was to do with taxing the rich.
The Commons pretty much immidiately revoked all their power, or almost did and since then the Lords haven't revoked a thing of note.
I'm in two minds on this. On one hand, the Queen's actions interfered with what the majority of citizens want. Despite their votes, she's trying to overrule them. By doing so, she breaks the whole spirit of elections and democracy, and I find this appalling.
On the other hand, I feel like (for example), if the United State's imaginary monarch had ruled that Bush shouldn't be president after he was elected and put Gore (or Kerry!) in charge instead, I doubt I'd be complaining. Reading the statements in the OP, I doubt I would have voted for this guy, but at the same time he does represent the will of the people.
Quite the conundrum.
This is bullshit, the Queen has no real power. The political views of the person she appoints as formation facilitator are irrelevant. The person she appointed has tried to make a coalition with the PVV in it for fucks sake. So what is the problem exactly? Also, the source seems to be a bit biased. The writer of this piece either knows nothing about Dutch politics or has ignored it.
P.S. : Rutte doesn't want to be in a coalition with the PVV, he's on the left side of the VVD.
A search on Google news shows absolutely nothing else presenting this same story in a similar manner.
It sounds like a conservative propaganda piece to me.
Here's what I DID find:
[quote][b]Dutch Coalition Should Exclude Wilders, Adviser Tells Queen[/b]
June 25 (Bloomberg) -- The Dutch politician leading talks on forming a coalition government said future discussions should exclude Geert Wilders’s anti-immigrant Freedom Party, which surged to third place in this month’s inconclusive elections.
Uri Rosenthal proposed that party leaders should explore a coalition involving 5 of the 10 groups in parliament. They are the Liberal Party led by Mark Rutte, which won most seats, the Labor Party, which finished second in the June 9 vote, the Christian Democrats, and two smaller groups, Green Left and D66.
“They’re prepared to assume responsibility to govern and don’t rule out working with each other,” Rosenthal said at a press conference in The Hague today. “All parties involved” acknowledged that a coalition with the Freedom Party “wasn’t possible,” he said.
Rosenthal, the Liberals’ leader in the upper house of parliament, was assigned by Queen Beatrix to investigate possible coalitions. It will take at least three parties to form a government with a majority in the lower house. Coalition negotiations in the Netherlands have taken an average of almost three months since World War II.
Rosenthal recommended that the queen name two senior politicians from the Liberals and Labor to continue discussions on forming a government from what he called the “broad center.”[/quote]
[url=http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-25/dutch-coalition-should-exclude-wilders-adviser-tells-queen.html]Source[/url]
They're overblowing this, it sounds like an advisor told the queen that she should encourage the minority parties to band together, a perfectly valid procedure in a parliamentary democracy. It almost happened in Canada a while ago.
It's kind of ironic that they call these sorts of things a threat to democracy or to free speech, because Wilders is a complete douche who would destroy civil rights. He wants to do things like : ban the construction of mosques, block all immigration from islamic countries, deport criminals if they weren't born in this country and so on.
Bullshit news. The Queen holds no power, she always remains neutral in the election process.
Most parties didn't want to make a coalition with Geert Wilders' party, that's why he's left out of the negotiations. And they're still bitching about that.
Why I am I not surprised that it is BurnEmdown?
lol, a friend of mine from the Netherlands told me about it and I decided to post it here, I don't have any opinion on the matter actually.
[QUOTE=Cronus;23261097]It's kind of ironic that they call these sorts of things a threat to democracy or to free speech, because Wilders is a complete douche who would destroy civil rights. He wants to do things like : ban the construction of mosques, block all immigration from islamic countries, deport criminals if they weren't born in this country and so on.[/QUOTE]
Better include them, or else we will have pretty big problems in about a year.
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_of_the_Netherlands"]Senate elections[/URL] + voters being ignored = having a big PVV where you don't want it. (They can block laws at that position)
the british monarchy still has power over australian politics - the queen and her representative (governor general) can sack any prime minister at any time for any reason and call for an election
fuck da power
[QUOTE=Jeep-Eep;23261940]Why I am I not surprised that it is BurnEmdown?[/QUOTE]
You're confusing BurnEmDown with Glaber.
[editline]07:40PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=QueenElizebeth;23263741]the british monarchy still has power over australian politics - the queen and her representative (governor general) can sack any prime minister at any time for any reason and call for an election
fuck da power[/QUOTE]
But like Canada, the Australian government has procedures it can follow to sever that tie should the monarch's power ever be abused. (Which would be a PR shitstorm)
No democracy?. Shit.
[QUOTE=Baldr;23262187]Better include them, or else we will have pretty big problems in about a year.
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_of_the_Netherlands"]Senate elections[/URL] + voters being ignored = having a big PVV where you don't want it. (They can block laws at that position)[/QUOTE]
So we should ignore the votes of everyone else because a million people voted for Geert Wilders?
I didn't vote CDA for them to go and work with that racist.
"We should remove Islam from the Netherlands. But the reason they came here is because we told them to come here in the early 1900's so that we could support our now powerful economy. Well they'd be christian if they were really dutch."
I don't see why people have so much problems with the Islam. It's just another religion. If Islam must go, then so should Christianity.
Talking about monarchy/democracy, let me just say one thing.
In Belgium, the King and his royal family has no fucking power over anything what-so-ever.
They serve as a face to respect (royalty), but since then laws have been passed that the king cannot make any decisions by himself, or any kind of decisions. He's become a fucking puppet of the ministers.
There, I said it.
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