Thursday we had a private tour of the Parliament building and met with a former Parliament member. The Dutch government system is very different from ours in that it is proportional representation. Each party receives their number of seats in Parliament based on the percentage of votes it receives. There are currently 10 different parties in Parliament! All of these parties would fall on our liberal side...even their most conservative ones. I asked how anything can get accomplished with so many parties. The parties form coalitions with other parties in which they promise to vote together on certain issues. The Prime Minister is chosen from the party which received the most votes. The Queen is also considered part of the Government and the Court is not included in they system. The whole thing was very interesting and would take a long time to write out...but that's an overview.
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