The bicameral Parliament is called the States General and is comprised of the lower House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal) and the upper house Senate (Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal). General elections for the House of Representatives are usually held every four years.
The 150 members of the House of Representatives are elected by semi-open list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. The number of seats per list is determined using the D'Hondt method.
After the elections to the House of Representatives, the leaders of the political groups negotiate which parties are to form a coalition government for the next four years. Once this has become clear, the formateur selects the candidates for the post of minister or state secretary in the new Cabinet.
The country has a population of around 18.8 million and 13.5 million registered voters. In the 2023 general election, voter turnout was 77.7%.