The Tweede Kamer

The buildings around this square housed the House of Representatives for most of its existence, and for over a hundred and seventy years the members debated inside a converted ballroom.

The chamber was created in 1815 and moved into the former palace of stadholder William the Fifth, on the edge of the Binnenhof. A room built for reception and dancing became the place where a country argued about taxes, colonies and schools. A purpose built hall only arrived in 1992, and since 2021 the whole operation has been camped in a former foreign ministry a few streets east, waiting for the renovation to finish.

One hundred and fifty members sit here, elected every four years. The seats are handed out in direct proportion to the votes, with no minimum threshold at all, so a party gathering about two thirds of one percent of the national vote walks in with a seat.

That single rule explains most of Dutch politics. Twenty parties in parliament is normal. A government needs four or five of them to agree. Negotiations after an election have run past three hundred days.

The Dutch grumble about it constantly and have changed almost nothing about it in a century.

The next stop is a few steps further along the Plein.