National holiday: Queen's Day, 30 April
Constitution: adopted 1814; amended many times, last time 17 February 1983
Legal system: civil law system incorporating French penal theory; constitution does not permit judicial review of acts of the States General; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state: Queen BEATRIX Wilhelmina Armgard (since 30 April 1980); Heir Apparent WILLEM-ALEXANDER (born 27 April 1967), Prince of Orange, son of Queen BEATRIX head of government: Prime Minister Wim KOK (since 22 August 1994) and Vice Prime Ministers Hans DIJKSTAL (since 22 August 1994) and Hans VAN MIERLO (since 22 August 1994) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the queen elections: none; the queen is a hereditary, constitutional monarch; following Second Chamber elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the queen; vice prime ministers appointed by the queen note: there is a Council of State composed of the queen, crown prince, and councillors consulted by the executive on legislative and administrative policy
Legislative branch: bicameral States General or Staten Generaal consists of the First Chamber or Eerste Kamer (75 seats; members indirectly elected by the country's 12 provincial councils for four-year terms) and the Second Chamber or Tweede Kamer (150 seats; members directly elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: First Chamber-last held 9 June 1995 (next to be held 9 June 1999); Second Chamber-last held 3 May 1994 (next to be held 6 May 1998) election results: First Chamber-percent of vote by party-NA; seats by party-VVD 23, CDA 19, PvdA 14, D'66 7, other 12; Second Chamber-percent of vote by party-PvdA 24.3%, CDA 22.3%, VVD 20.4%, D'66 16.5%, other 16.5%; seats by party-PvdA 37, CDA 34, VVD 31, D'66 24, other 24
Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Hoge Raad, justices are nominated for life by the crown
Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA
[Jaap DE HOOP SCHEFFER]; Labor Party or PvdA [Wim KOK]; People's Party
for Freedom and Democracy (Liberal) or VVD [Hans F. DIJKSTAL];
Democrats '66 or D'66 [Els BORST]; a host of minor parties
Political pressure groups and leaders: large multinational firms; Federation of Netherlands Trade Union Movement (comprising Socialist and Catholic trade unions) and a Protestant trade union; Federation of Catholic and Protestant Employers Associations; the nondenominational Federation of Netherlands Enterprises; and Interchurch Peace Council or IKV
International organization participation: AfDB, AG (observer), AsDB,
Australia Group, Benelux, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAC,
EIB, ESA, ESCAP, EU, FAO, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU,
ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat,
Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MTCR, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA,
NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR,
UNIDO, UNMIBH, UNTSO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO,
ZC