GEOM Netherlands 2017 Final Report GENDER ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION (GEOM) The Netherlands 2017 DRAFT Facilitated by Gender Concerns International 0 GEOM Netherlands 2017 Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures ....................................................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Preface and Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Mission Composition ................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction: 100 years of Passive Women’s Suffrage in The Netherlands .............................................................. 7 2. The GEOM Netherlands ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8 3. Legal Framework ................................................................................................................................................................................ 10 3.1. The Dutch Constitution ........................................................................................................................................................... 10 3.2. The International Framework ............................................................................................................................................. 10 3.3. Electoral System ......................................................................................................................................................................... 10 4. Background ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 12 4.1. The Status of Women in the Political Arena in the Netherlands......................................................................... 12 5. Election Administration and Women´s Representation .................................................................................................. 18 5.1. Recruitment Procedures ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 Recruitment of Polling Station Staff .......................................................................................................................................... 19 6. Political Parties .................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 6.1. Registration of Political Parties and Candidates ........................................................................................................ 23 6.2. Campaign Environment .......................................................................................................................................................... 24 6.3. Women in Political Leadership Positions ...................................................................................................................... 26 6.4. Number of Female Candidates from Ethnic Minorities & LGBTQ+ Community ......................................... 28 DRAFT 7. Voters ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 29 7.1. Voter Registration ..................................................................................................................................................................... 29 7.2. Voter Education .......................................................................................................................................................................... 30 8. Election Day Observations ............................................................................................................................................................. 30 8.1. General Observations .............................................................................................................................................................. 30 8.2. Voter Turnout .............................................................................................................................................................................. 31 8.3. Accessibility .................................................................................................................................................................................. 31 8.4. Proxy Voting ................................................................................................................................................................................. 32 8.5. Polling Station Staff................................................................................................................................................................... 33 9. Election Results ................................................................................................................................................................................... 33 9.1 Preference Voting ....................................................................................................................................................................... 36 10. Conclusions and Recommendations ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Annex I. Coordination Team ............................................................................................................................................................... 41 Annex II. Pool of National Experts ................................................................................................................................................... 42 Annex III. Core Team .............................................................................................................................................................................. 43 Annex IV. International Observers .................................................................................................................................................. 44 Pamphlet ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 45 1 GEOM Netherlands 2017 List of Tables and Figures Graphs Graph 1: Organogram of the Dutch political system ............................................................................................................... 11 Graph 2: Percentage of women in the Cabinet, including Prime Ministers 2003 – 2017 ..................................... 13 Graph 3: Percentage of women in the Lower House from 1918-2017 .......................................................................... 15 Graph 4: Percentage of women in the Upper House 1956 – 2015 ................................................................................... 16 Graph 5: Percentage of women females in Municipal Councils 1958 – 2014 ............................................................. 16 Graph 6: Percentage of female Mayors 1998-2013 ................................................................................................................. 17 Graph 7: Percentage of women in key decision-making positions from 2002-2017.............................................. 17 Graph 8: Percentage of female polling station staff per municipality with total population in descending order ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Graph 9: Proxy voting by country of origin and gender from 2006 and 2010........................................................... 32 Graph 10: Male-female percentages of the population of the Netherlands compared to male-female percentage of membership of the Lower House............................................................................................................ 34 Images Image 1: The protest against women’s lack of political rights in 1916 ............................................................................ 7 Image 2: A part of the GEOM team at the trainings day, 14 March 2017 ......................................................................... 9 Image 3: The Electoral Commission only had male members in the past, the current Commission has two female members ............................................................................................................................................................................ 18 Image 4: Poling staff at a polling station on Election Day in The Hague ....................................................................... 19 Image 5: International Observers