Independent Senate Group

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.[1] The OSF only contests the elections for the Eerste Kamer and represents regionalist interests.

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

Onafhankelijke Senaatsfractie
ChairpersonDurk Stoker
Leader in the SenateTon Raven
Founded1995 (1995)
Think tankStichting Ir. Marten Bierman
IdeologyRegionalism
Seats in the Senate
1 / 75
Website
www.osf.nl

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 achieved 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.[2]

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.[3]

Members

The OSF consists of the following provincial parties:[4]

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

Election results
ElectionVotesVote weight%Seats won
1995
1 / 75
1999
1 / 75
2003 2,8741.78
1 / 75
2007 2,8571.75
1 / 75
2011 102,1131.77
1 / 75
2015 142,6522.46
1 / 75
2019 132,2651.31
1 / 75
Sources:[5][6]

References
  1. "Statuten Onafhankelijke SenaatsFractie | osf.nl". www.osf.nl. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  2. "OSF-senator De Lange nu onafhankelijke eenling". parlement.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  3. "Ton Raven nieuwe senator voor de onafhankelijken - osf.nl". www.osf.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  4. "Wat is de Onafhankelijke SenaatsFractie?". osf.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  5. "Verkiezingsuitslagen". Verkiezingen (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  6. "Eerste Kamerverkiezingen 1983–2015". Parlement.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 February 2019.
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