This bill proposes that the members of the Senate have a term of office of six years and that every three years, thirty-eight members and thirty-seven members are elected alternately. In fact, this goes back to the system that applied between 1922 and 1983. The purpose of this adjustment is to make the term of office and the method of election of the members of the Senate more in line with the political position of the Senate, its own legitimation and the division of roles in the bicameral system.
In recent decades, the political character of the Senate has become more apparent, as opponents of the change had mentioned as a foreseeable consequence. The integral election of the Senate, which always takes place shortly after the provincial election of the States, has emphasized the political character of the Senate since 1983. At the same time, the average seniority of senators has decreased. The Explanatory Memorandum states that both developments relate less well to the role of the Senate as a college of reflection and reconsideration. A longer parliamentary term and a phased elaboration of the national changes in electoral relations strengthen the necessary balance between the political character of the Senate on the one hand and its role as a body of reconsideration and reflection on the other. With the proposed method of election, the Senate (as a whole) will generally not have a more recent political mandate from the voter than the House of Representatives.
Legislative changes
Article II, Part A (Article 52 of the Constitution)
The term of office of both Houses is currently four years. The parliamentary term of office remains four years. As explained in the general section, the bill aims to extend the term of office of the members of the Senate to six years, with an election of part of the Senate every three years. Both elements are included in the second paragraph of Article 52.
The second paragraph of the current Article 52 stipulates that if a term of office other than four years is established by law for the provincial council, the term of office of the Senate shall be amended accordingly. Since the present bill no longer links the term of office of the Senate to that of the provincial councils, this provision no longer needs to be applied.
Article II, Part B (Article 55 of the Constitution)
The second sentence of the current article 55 of the Constitution states that the election of the Senate (except in the event of dissolution) is to be held within three months of the election of the members of provincial councils. Now that the present bill no longer links the term of office of the Senate to that of the provincial councils, but provides for a triennial election of part of the Senate, this provision can be canceled.
Article II, Part C (Article 64 of the Constitution)
Pursuant to Article 64, first paragraph, of the Constitution, each of the chambers can be dissolved by royal decree. In that case, a new election for the dissolved chamber will take place (second paragraph). The fourth paragraph of Article 64 regulates the consequences for the term of office of a chamber that occurs after dissolution. The last sentence of this paragraph now stipulates that the term of office of a Senate acting after dissolution ends at the time when the term of the dissolved chamber would have ended. This provision is related to the linking of the term of office of the Senate with that of the provincial councils. As mentioned, this link is dropped with the present bill. That is why this sentence can also be canceled.
The first sentence of Article 64, fourth paragraph, contains a basis for a statutory regulation of the (maximum) term of office of a Lower House that occurs after dissolution. It is proposed to broaden this basis, so that the law also establishes the term of office of the members of a Senate who act after dissolution. The term of office of the members of a Chamber acting after dissolution is no more than one year longer than the terms referred to in Article 52. This also refers to the three-year term referred to in the second sentence of the proposed Article 52, second paragraph (after which thirty-eight members and thirty-seven members step down in turn). This makes it possible to provide by law that after dissolution of the Senate, some of the members will step down three years before the end of the term of office of the other members. As before 1983, it is left to the legislator to settle how it is determined which members will be elected for the full term and which for the shorter term after a dissolution.
Article III (additional Article III)
Article III aims to allow the proposed amendment to the term of office of the members of the Senate to commence only when the term of office of the Senate in office ends at the time that this amendment comes into effect. This will prevent the amendment of the Constitution from coming into effect when the Elections Act has not yet been amended.
The first time that the Senate is elected under the new scheme, thirty-eight members are elected for a term of six years and thirty-seven members are elected for a term of three years. Since this deviates from the main rule of Article 52 (new), this is explicitly regulated in Article III. It is left to the Elections Act to determine how it is determined which members are elected for three years and which members are elected for six years. The third paragraph serves that the additional article (by operation of law) expires after it has been worked out.
Article IV
Article IV must ensure that the amendment orders included in Article II of this bill cannot be fully enforced if the Constitution that aims to introduce an election college for the Senate on behalf of Dutch nationals who are not residents enters into force earlier than the present one.
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