Independent Politics Netherlands

This article is about the Dutch group. For the Canadian group, see Independent Senators Group.

Independent Senate Group Onafhankelijke Senaatsfractie
File:Independent Senate Group NL logo.png
Chairperson	Durk Stoker
Leader in the Senate	Ton Raven
Gegründet	1995 (1995)
Think tank	Stichting Ir. Marten Bierman
Ideology	Regionalism
Seats in the Senate	1 / 75
Website
www.osf.nl
Politics of the Netherlands Political parties Elections

The Independent Senate Group (Dutch: Onafhankelijke Senaatsfractie, OSF) is a political party in the Dutch Senate with one senator, representing several provincial parties. The OSF differs from other Dutch political parties in that it does not allow for individual membership, but only grants membership to provincial parties, or municipal local parties that are members of a provincial party. The OSF only contests the elections for the Eerste Kamer and represents regionalist interests.

History

In 1995, several provincial parties and The Greens proposed their own independent list for the Senate elections, called the Platform of Independent Groups/Greens (Platform van Onafhankelijke Groepen/De Groenen). Marten Bierman (a member of The Greens) was elected through preferential vote. In 1999 Bierman was reelected.

In 2003, Henk ten Hoeve became senator for the OSF. He was a member of the Friesland states-provincial representing the Frisian National Party. He remained senator until 2011. Ten Hoeve was succeeded by Kees de Lange. De Lange was elected on the OSF list, but was a member of the 50PLUS party, with which the OSF had a vote sharing agreement, as the OSF did not achieve enough votes to get a seat independently. In 2015 De Lange broke with the OSF due to a disagreement concerning the possible cooperation between the OSF and the People's Party of Limburg of Jos van Rey, a former VVD alderman and representative plagued by corruption scandals.

In 2015, Henk ten Hoeve became senator of the OSF for a second time. Between 2019 and 2021 Gerben Gerbrandy, former mayor of Achtkarspelen, has been the senator representing the OSF. Gerbrandy left the Senate in January 2021 and was replaced by Ton Raven, a former alderman from Sittard-Geleen.

Name change

In 2021, the party's name was changed to Independent Political Netherlands.

Mitglieder

The OSF consists of the following provincial parties:

Party	Province	Votes	%	Seats in the States Provincial	Notes
Frisian National Party	Friesland	23.662	7.9%	4 / 43
Provincial Interest Fryslân	Friesland	5.345	1.8%	0 / 43
Elderly Party NH	North Holland	18.307	1.6%	0 / 55
Groninger Interest	Groningen	18.556	7.3%	3 / 43
Local Brabant	North Brabant	25.485	2.5%	1 / 55
Strong Local Drenthe	Drenthe	9.344	4.1%	1 / 39
Party for Zeeland	Zeeland	10.619	6.2%	2 / 39
Local Limburg	Limburg	18.474	4.1%	2 / 47
Local Parties Gelderland	Gelderland	11.053	1.2%	0 / 55	Observer member
Local Parties South Holland	South Holland	11.648	0.8%	0 / 55	Observer member
U26 Municipalities	Utrecht	6.530	1.1%	0 / 49	Observer member

Eerste Kamer Election results

Election	Votes	Vote weight	%	Seats won
1995				1 / 75
1999				1 / 75
2003		2,874	1.78	1 / 75
2007		2,857	1.75	1 / 75
2011	10	2,113	1.77	1 / 75
2015	14	2,652	2.46	1 / 75
2019	13	2,265	1.31	1 / 75
Sources:

External links

• Official website