Nearly 60% of MP's come from the Randstad, where 47% of the population lives

The Randstad is still overrepresented in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, after last week’s elections. Of the 150 parliamentarians that will be sworn in next week, 88 come from the provinces of Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, and Utrecht, according to an analysis by ND of the parties’ candidate lists.

That means that 59 percent of parliamentarians come from the Randstad. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), 18,121,550 people were living in the Netherlands at the start of October. Estimates suggest up to 8.5 million live in the Randstad region, so approximately 47 percent of the population.

For years, political parties have been lauding the importance of fair and equal regional representation in the Tweede Kamer. But compared to the parliamentarians sworn in after the 2023 elections, the number of Randstad parliamentarians has increased by five, according to ND.

According to the newspaper, the VVD and CDA are most balanced when it comes to parliamentarians from the Randstad and the other regions, while D66, Groenlinks-PvdA, and JA21 are most Randstad-based.

While regional representation is still lagging, this parliament has moved another step closer to equal gender representation. Stem op een Vrouw reported this week that 43 percent of the new parliament are women, the highest percentage since the first female MP was sworn in in 1918. Five women gained parliamentary seats through preferential votes.