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 have 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
LeaderGerben Gerbrandy
ChairmanEmma Kraak
Leader in the SenateGerben Gerbrandy
Founded1995 (1995)
ThinktankStichting Ir. Marten Bierman
IdeologyRegionalism
Political positionCentre
ColoursWhite and red
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. 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. Since 2019 Gerben Gerbrandy, former mayor of Achtkarspelen, has been the senator representing the OSF.

Members

The OSF consists of the following provincial parties:[3]

PartyProvince Seats in the States-provincialNotes
Frisian National Party Friesland
4 / 43
Provincial Interest Fryslân Friesland
0 / 43
Party for the Eldery NH North Holland
0 / 55
Groninger Interest Groningen
3 / 43
Local Brabant North Brabant
1 / 55
Strong Local Drenthe
1 / 39
Party for Zeeland Zeeland
2 / 39
Local Limburg Limburg
2 / 47
Local Parties Gelderland Gelderland
0 / 55
Observer member
Local Parties South Holland South Holland
0 / 55
Observer member
U26 Municipalities Utrecht
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:[4][5]

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. "Wat is de Onafhankelijke SenaatsFractie?". osf.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  4. "Verkiezingsuitslagen". Verkiezingen (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  5. "Eerste Kamerverkiezingen 1983–2015". Parlement.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 February 2019.
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