anch: chief of state: Queen BEATRIX (since 30 April 1980);
Heir Apparent WILLEM-ALEXANDER (born 27 April 1967), son of the monarch
head of government: Prime Minister Wim KOK (since 22 August 1994)
and Vice Prime Ministers Annemarie JORRITSMA (since 3 August 1998) and
Els BORST-EILERS (since 3 August 1998); note - Wim KOK and his cabinet
resigned 16 April 2002 after taking blame for the massacre of Bosnian
Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995 while they were under the protection of
Dutch UN peacekeepers, but were asked to stay as a caretaker government
until a new administration was formed after elections on 15 May 2002
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the monarch elections:
none; the monarchy is hereditary; following Second Chamber elections,
the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is
usually appointed prime minister by the monarch; vice prime ministers
appointed by the monarch note: there is also a Council of State composed
of the monarch, heir apparent, and councilors that provides consultations
to the prime minister 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 25 May 1999 (next to be held 15 May 2003); Second Chamber -
last held 15 May 2002 (next to be held NA May 2006) election results:
First Chamber - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - CDA 20,
VVD 19, PvdA 15, D66 4, other 17; Second Chamber - percent of vote by
party - NA%; seats by party - Christian Democrats 43, List Pim Fortuyn
26, Labor Party 23, VVD 23, Green Party 11, Socialist Party 9, D66 7,
Christian Union 4, others 4

Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Hoge Raad (justices are nominated
for life by the monarch)

Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA [Jan
Peter BALKENENDE]; Christian Union Party [M. VAN DAALEN]; Democrats 66
or D66 [Thom DE GRAAF]; Green Party [Otto Ter HAAR]; Labor Party or PvdA
[Adrianus MELKERT]; List Pim Fortuyn [leader NA]; People's Party for
Freedom and Democracy (Liberal) or VVD [Hans F. DIJKSTAL]; Socialist Party
[Jan MARIJNISSEN]; a host of minor parties

Political pressure groups and leaders: Feder