Instead of instantly knowing the results of who will be president, we Dutch enjoy a democratic tetris of multicolour politics.
Instead of instantly knowing the results of who will be president, we Dutch enjoy a democratic tetris of multicolour politics.
You’re not special, we do similar nonsense in Germany, only we have a 5 percent hurdle which does make it easier to predict. And doesn’t result in four-party-coalitions*, goodness gracious, that sounds stressful. Is that normal?
* instead it’s usually two of the same four parties. I don’t know if that’s better.
Edit: I realised that my tone probably doesn’t translate to text. I do definitely prefer this over other systems, I’m just also aware of its absurdities, like the squabble over who’s going to coalitionify whom.
We currently have a strange minority coalition ( D66: 26, VVD: 22, CDA: 18 ) which means that for most laws that they still need to find a majority. Having a 5 percent hurdle seems dangerous as it further limits small parties that often add unique perspectives that can get a majority but wouldn’t be a priority or focus otherwise.
Yep, the hurdle is contentious to say the least. It was established to prevent a repeat of the Weimar Republic where the splintering made parliament incapable of doing anything productive (after which the 1930s happened). You are correct though that having small parties represented in parliament does have its advantages which we’re missing out on.
Didn’t want to imply your system is bad or anything, far be it from me. A four party coalition just looks unusual from where I am, that’s all I wanted to express :)