Dutch Senate drops Consensus
Kingdom Law on voting rights
THE HAGUE--The Dutch Senate, the First Chamber, on Tuesday rejected a motion to regulate the voting right of Antillean and Aruban citizens in the elections of the European Parliament via a Kingdom Consensus Law.
The Senate last week already approved a proposal to adapt the Dutch electoral law, enabling citizens in the overseas part of the Kingdom to vote in the next European Parliamentary elections in June 2009.
Most factions in the Senate, including the governing labour party PvdA, voted against the motion which was presented last week by the Christian Democratic Party CDA of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. “This is no way to deal with the voting rights of the Antilleans and Arubans,” motivated CDA Senator Alfons Dölle, the initiator of the motion.
Dölle and four other Senators wanted Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten to arrange the voting rights of Antillean and Aruban citizens in a Kingdom Consensus Law within three years, with the input from the governments of these two countries. The Netherlands Antilles and Aruba are part of our Kingdom, and their voting rights should not be dealt with in a Dutch national organic law, argued Dölle during the voting of the motion on Tuesday.
Dölle’s motion got the support of Senators from the coalition partner Christian Union CU, the reformed party SGP, the green left wing party GroenLinks and independent one-member faction OSF. OSF Senator Henk ten Hoeve motivated his support by saying that even though the islands might not be a member of the European Union (EU), there was an “intense relation” between citizens of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, and the EU. He agreed that the islands should have a say in this matter through a Kingdom Consensus Law.
PvdA Senator Han Noten, however, agreed with State Secretary Bijleveld-Schouten to await the results of the evaluation within three years and to seek legal advice on this matter. Noten referred to Dölle’s motion as “unnecessary” and “unwise.” Democrats D66 Senator Hans Engels agreed to await the results of the evaluation and the legal advice, as proposed by the State Secretary.
The Senate last week already approved in principle to adapt the Dutch electoral law, making it possible for citizens of the islands of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba to vote in the elections for a new European Parliament on June 4, 2009.
Until now, only Antilleans and Arubans who had lived in the Netherlands for 10 years were allowed to vote in the European elections, as well as Dutch citizens living on the islands. This rule of the Dutch Government was in violation with the principle of equal rights, decided the European High Court of Human Rights. The Council of State, the highest advisory organ in the Dutch Kingdom, contended that there should be no difference between Antillean and Aruban citizens and Dutch citizens living on outside Europe where it comes to voting rights.
The Dutch Second Chamber already approved a change to the electoral law in July 2008.
