Verkiezing

*** Dutch general elections today ***

Grammar: <verkiezing> [noun] [de verkiezing, de verkiezingen].

Translates to: election.

Examples:
1. "Vanochtend zijn in Nederland de verkiezingen voor de Tweede Kamer begonnen."
("This morning, the elections for the "Tweede Kamer" have commenced in the Netherlands.")
See also ‘Extra’.

2. "In Amerika is verkiezingskoorts een veel groter fenomeen dan in Nederland."
("Electoral fever is a much bigger phenomenon in the U.S. than it is in the Netherlands.")

3. "Frank kijkt graag miss-verkiezingen op televisie."
("Frank likes to watch beauty contests on television." See also "DWOTD 82. Kijken".)

Related Words:
1. "Verkiezen": to prefer (literally: to forchoose).
2. "Kiezen": to choose.
3. "Stemlokaal": polling station/place, the place where people can vote.

Extra:
The Dutch "Tweede Kamer" (literally: Second Chamber) is another name for the Parliament. It is composed of 150 members of different political parties representing the people.
The political party that wins the elections, gets the first right to form a coalition that has the majority in the Tweede Kamer (because there’s never a single party with absolute majority).
When a coalition has been formed, negotiations start to form the "kabinet": the board of ministers and the prime-minister. The biggest political party usually brings forward the candidate prime-minister. Once the other minister posts have been divided among the coalition parties, the candidate prime-minister and his cabinet are officially appointed by the queen.