The definite number of Dutch seats in the European parliament is dependent on the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, which foresees a parliament with 751 members. Last week's elections were supposed to have been the first held under the Lisbon Treaty, but because of the Irish 'no' to the agreement, the elections were held under the rules of the old Nice Treaty, which counts only 736MEP's.
It was agreed that the number of seats will be adapted to the Lisbon Treaty as soon as it is ratified by all EU member states. For the Netherlands, this means that the number of seats will go from 25 to 26. The problem is that the Dutch parliament has yet to decide how the extra seat will be allocated.
There are two options on the table: one is to give the extra seat to a party already elected to the parliament, in which case it would go to the populist, anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV), the biggest winner in last week's election. The PVV would then go from four to five seats, making it as big as the Christian democrat party (CDA).
A second option would be to give the extra seat to the party that narrowly (75 percent) missed getting a seat in the parliament, in which case it could go to the Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD).
Deputy minister for home affairs Ank Bijleveld last month wrote a letter to parliament asking it to approve the first option. But PvdD leader Marianne Thieme said on Wednesday she will go to court if necessary to reel in the extra seat for her party.
The PvdD got 157,735 votes or 3.5 percent in the European election - not enough for a seat in the parliament. Thieme called it "sloppy and undemocratic" that the Dutch parliament is being asked to approve the rules for the elections, including the allocation of the extra seat, after the elections were held.
Ironically, both the PVV and the PvdD are eurosceptic parties that oppose ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
The electoral commission on Wednesday released the preference votes for the candidates in the European election. With 334,846 preference votes,Geert Wilders has been elected to the parliament, but Wilders said before the election that he prefers to stay in national parliament. Barry Madlener, who headed the PVV's European list, got 382.610 votes.
In some of the other parties, the preference votes led to a shake-up. Christian democrat Ria Oomen was 25th of the list, but with 70,388 preference votes she will be returning to the parliament, where she is the longest-serving Dutch MEP. She return instead of Maria Martens, who is currently the CDA's leader in the European parliament.
At the Labour party (PvdA), Judith Merkies, fourth on the list, got more preference votes than number three Jan Cremers. The PvdA went from seven to three seats in the last election, which means that Cremers will not be returning to Brussels.
