Elections in the Netherlands

Elections here is quite different from those in the Philippines. For one, there is very little outward sign that there ARE elections. There are few posters, and hardly any outdoor rallies (its rather too cold here to have too many of that). And the people generally decide on the basis of newspaper articles or TV debates by the candidates.
The nice thing about elections here is that even foreigners are allowed to vote in local elections. National elections are reserved for citizens, though. Last March 10, we had elections for the city governments. So, on election day, I went to the polling place, which is situated at the old-age home near where we live. Some ten years ago, or so, the polling place was at the school where our children went, and it was just a matter of voting after having brought our child to school. Anyway, it is now located at the old-age home.
About two weeks before the elections, everybody receives their election pass by mail. So, on election day, you bring this pass, plus your passport (or national ID) and show these to the officials at the polling place. They will check your name in a master list, and then give you a ballot. The ballot is a big piece of paper, where the names of the parties are in columns, while the names of the specific candidates in rows. We only vote for one person, in one party.

The system we have is a proportional representation system, where the parties get seats proportionate to the number of votes cast for them. The candidates are in lists, and the order of candidates determine who gets to be elected - thus, if a party gets 5 seats for example, candidates No. 1 to No. 5 of that party gets in. You can simply vote for the No.1 candidate for your party. But you can also vote for, say No. 10. Now, if candidate No. 10 gets a certain number of votes, he will get a seat (providing that the party as a whole gets at least 1 seat), and displaces, say, No. 5. This is called preferential voting. So, our system combines voting for parties with individual voting. And it is not too uncommon for No. 50 candidate to get elected.
Well, the voting was rather short, since there is only one candidate to be selected, whose name we mark with a red pencil. The voting lasts from 8 am till 9 pm. After this, the ballots are counted, and the results are then sent to the municipal building for collation. The results are known at about 11pm or midnight. Fast. I still don't get it why it takes so long in the Philippines...
Anyway, we voted in March for our municipal governments. In June 10, we will vote again, this time for the members of parliament. In addition, we also have elections (sometime within a 4 year period) for the provincial government, and for the European parliament.

Revolving House

One of the "attractions" we have in Tilburg is the Revolving House. This is a house that is mounted on rails and it moves around one of the city's traffic rotondas. It is unique to Tilburg, as far as I know.

The house is a project of John Körmeling, a designer from Eindhoven, the Netherlands.The house has three levels, and looks quite ordinary, except for the fact that it goes around that rotonda. It is rather controversial, and the municipal government was initially worried that it would pose a traffic problem (i.e. drivers looking at the house instead of the road), but when he lowered the rotation speed from once per hour to once a day, the municipal government agreed.

The revolving house has invited its share of controversy. Some political parties see this work of art as a waste of money. The Euro 600,000 that was spent for it could have been given to help the poor etc. At the same time, many of the poorer residents of Tilburg (as well as the not poor, of course) think of the revolving house as a nice piece of art that helps put Tilburg on the map, and which is at the same time cute or amusing. A couple of times, there have been krakers (people who squat, often for political reasons) have occupied this house, to protest various "money-wasting" projects of the municipality. At another time, a group of "Guerilla gardeners" came over and decorated the house with plants and flowers.

The municipality is considering that the upkeep of the house could be turned over to the hotel that is next to it in the rotonda. The house could then possibly be used for receptions and other activities of the hotel, in exchange for the hotel paying for the maintenance of the house. So far, nothing has come out of this idea.

Well, we now have the revolving house in Tilburg, and it is a permanent fixture of the city. I'm sure that it will play a role in Tilburg's city life, for better or for worse, in the years to come.