Ankie Broekers Chairman Senate

Ankie Broekers-Knol (VVD) is the successor to Fred de Graaf as chairman of the Senate. There was a third round of voting necessary, but it Broekers stayed ahead of Hans Franken (CDA). The other candidates for the position were Guusje ter Horst (PvdA) and Marijke Linthorst (PvdA).

Broekers-Knol began her speech as the new chairman with a word of thanks to the resigned De Graaf. "In addition I want to thank all members for their trust in me. It was sincerely an exciting election. I sit here now, but actually I would prefer to have a drink at this moment. I will do my best to make your trust worthwhile," said Broekers-Knol.

There were eventually three ballot. Since three senators were not present there were 72 voters. During the first round the majority of 38 votes was not obtained. Broekers-Knol got 30 votes, followed by Franken with 26 votes. Ter Horst (9) and Linthorst (7) seemed out of the race.

During the second voting ballot there were some problems with the counting. It took a while before it became clear that Broekers and Franken received both 30 votes and went on for the third round. The two PvdA politicians had only 6 votes each and didn’t go to the third round

Eventually Broekers-Knol won the election with 41 votes in her favor. Franken got 30 votes. One vote was invalid.

Resignation

Volkskrant published ​​three weeks ago that de Graaf had prevented that PVV leader Geert Wilders became a member of a committee that would accompany the king, at inauguration day, from the Royal Palace to the Nieuwe Kerk.  Not long after that message de Graaf resigned as chairman. He denied having made mistakes, but believed that his independence was taken into question by the commotion and he therefore no longer could function as chairman of the Senate. He remains a member of the Senate.