MPs back plan against automatic elections when government falls

A majority of the Tweede Kamer has adopted a motion by the ChristenUnie that aims to ensure a cabinet collapse does not directly lead to new elections. The CDA and SGP co-signed it, and PRO, D66 and 50PLUS were among the parties that supported it.

ChristenUnie leader Mirjam Bikker wants it laid down that after a cabinet collapse the Kamer deliberates "on the desirability or direction of a new cabinet formation". She also wants the prime minister to account to the Kamer first, before submitting the cabinet's resignation to the King.

Bikker thinks such a debate would quickly show whether exploring a new cabinet is possible. "Or you say: relations have gone so badly wrong, there's no other way, we have to go to elections," she said when she submitted the motion.

Her proposal therefore does not rule out elections after a collapse. She would, however, see them as a "certificate of incompetence" (brevet van onvermogen) for the Kamer. "I'm a bit fed up with us being in campaign mode all the time, as if there's always another election just around the corner," she said. Only one Tweede Kamer since 2000 has served a full four-year term.

After the motion passed, Bikker asked the presidium, the day-to-day board of the Tweede Kamer, to draw up a proposal quickly to make the change.