The executive , also referred to as the juditian or executive power , is that part of government which executes the law; in other words, directly makes the key decisions and holds power.
35-587: The first Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Netherlands government from 22 July 2002 until 27 May 2003. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the nationalistic Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) and the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) after the election of 2002 . The cabinet was a right-wing coalition and had
70-594: A demissionary capacity until it was replaced following the election of 2003 . On 17 May 2002 Queen Beatrix appointed Member of the Council of State Piet Hein Donner (CDA) as " informateur ", to investigate the possibilities for a new government. A coalition between CDA, LPF and VVD was established relatively quickly, despite some initial resistance by the VVD. By 4 July a detailed coalition agreement had been drawn up and
105-470: A change in governing party or group of parties or a general election. Parliamentary systems have a head of government (who leads the executive, often called ministers ) normally distinct from the head of state (who continues through governmental and electoral changes). In the Westminster type of parliamentary system , the principle of separation of powers is not as entrenched as in some others. Members of
140-463: A new party and resigning from the government. This led to tension between him and his supporter Steven van Eyck and Bomhoff. VVD-leader Zalm tried to convince the LPF ministers to replace both Bomhoff and Heinsbroek but his real aim was to use these resignations to call for new elections and to repair the huge losses of his VVD party in the election after the murder of Fortuyn. Disregarding Bomhoff's warnings,
175-535: A substantial majority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as Prime Minister . Prominent economist Eduard Bomhoff served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport , while prominent Liberal politician Johan Remkes served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations . The cabinet served during
210-419: Is usually a largely ceremonial monarch or president. December Murders The December murders (Dutch: Decembermoorden ) were the murders on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, of fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticized the military dictatorship then ruling Suriname . Thirteen of these men were arrested on December 7 between 2 am and 5 am while sleeping in their homes (according to reports by
245-597: The Constitutional Court - which was defined by law, but never appointed. After some years of standstill and no appointment of a Constitutional Court, the trial continued in 2015 after an order of the court-martial. Using his authority as defined in article 148 of the Constitution of Suriname , President Bouterse then declared that the trial was a threat to national security, and ordered the prosecutor to halt prosecution on 29 June 2016. The court-martial
280-412: The 1980 coup d'état, Slagveer joined the sergeants and became their spokesperson on television and censor. Gradually he became more critical, and eventually broke all contact with the military regime. On 7 December 1982, Slagveer was arrested, and, with visible signs of torture, forced to read a confession on television that the group had tried to overthrow the government. He was killed the next day. In
315-474: The December murders trial that commenced on November 30, 2007, there were 25 suspects with Bouterse being the only main suspect. Only after many years the government of Suriname took the first official legal steps toward clarifying the case. After the murders, the victims' bodies were buried without post-mortem examinations having been performed; moreover, no legal investigation was conducted. Politically,
350-550: The Lower House during the previous cabinet. After resigning he said he still denied the allegations. After the ensuing new elections, the LPF lost two-thirds of its seats in the House of Representatives . The party was never a significant force in Dutch politics again, and dissolved in 2008. The term of 87 days (counting the first and last days in full and excluding its "caretaker" function that continued for months afterwards)
385-667: The Ministry of Justice. The first Balkenende cabinet was very unstable from the beginning. Elections had been held in the very recent aftermath of the assassination of Pim Fortuyn , the leader of the newly established Pim Fortuyn List . Emotions in the Netherlands had run very high. The LPF was catapulted into enormous wins, but was unprepared for cabinet participation. Only three of the 27 cabinet members had previous experience in government, leading to speculation that it wouldn't last long. As it turned out, personality conflicts and
SECTION 10
#1732801077603420-578: The Queen appointed Jan Peter Balkenende , the lijsttrekker for the CDA, as formateur to form a new cabinet. The cabinet was named on 16 July and was sworn in on 22 July. The first Balkenende cabinet comprised 14 ministers and 14 State Secretaries, with each post allocated to one of the coalition parties. Each of the ministers headed a department, with the exception of one "minister without a portfolio" to deal with "foreigners policy and integration", accommodated by
455-497: The capital of Suriname. The soldiers performing the action were under command of Bouterse, the then dictator of Suriname and also leader of the Surinamese army. Among the victims were lawyers, journalists, businessmen, soldiers, university teachers and a union leader. A sixteenth arrested person, trade union leader Fred Derby , was released unexpectedly on December 8. Derby reported his experiences on December 8, 2000, saying he
490-421: The continuation of the trial was postponed to await the outcomes and timelines in other trials. In June 2017, military prosecutor Roy Elgrin was able to read his conclusions, and demanded a 20-year prison sentence for the main suspect Desi Bouterse. He argued that Bouterse was behind the murders, was present but also that he was unable to prove that he pulled the trigger. In a response, Bouterse implied that he
525-421: The control of the government bureaucracy , especially in the areas of overall economic or foreign policy . In parliamentary systems, the executive is responsible to the elected legislature, which must maintain the confidence of the legislature or one part of it, if bicameral. In certain circumstances (varying by state), the legislature can express its lack of confidence in the executive, which causes either
560-506: The death penalty. The cabinet was officially opposed to the death penalty. Nawijn responded that he made his remark as leader of the LPF. The party in its turn declared that it was opposed to the death penalty. Nawijn was highly criticised when he declared that it was a personal remark, because it was normal that a minister in a coalition cabinet could make remarks as a party member outside his ministerial responsibility. In September and October Herman Heinsbroek speculated in public about leading
595-436: The detainees had been shot dead "in an attempt to flee". The December murders led to international protest by numerous Western countries and human rights organizations. The former colonial power, the Netherlands , immediately froze development aid . Many Surinamese civilians fled Suriname for the Netherlands. Bouterse has long denied guilt in the December murders. In March 2007 he accepted political responsibility for
630-504: The early unstable 2000s. Domestically, it had to deal with the fallout of the assassination of Pim Fortuyn , and internationally, with the start of the war on terror . The cabinet suffered several major internal conflicts including multiple cabinet resignations. The internal conflicts between the cabinet members of the Pim Fortuyn List led to the fall of the cabinet just 87 days into its term on 16 October 2002 and it continued in
665-507: The election of Bouterse as president in August 2010, Parliament moved in 2012 to amend a 1992 amnesty law to include the period of the December murders. The amendment was signed into law in April 2012 by the vice president, and resulted in halting the murder trial against (among others) then-president Desi Bouterse. The trial in front of the court-martial was halted to await a judgment of
700-426: The executive ( ministers ), are also members of the legislature, and hence play an important part in both the writing and enforcing of law. In presidential systems , the directly elected head of government appoints the ministers. The ministers can be directly elected by the voters. In this context, the executive consists of a leader or leader of an office or multiple offices. Specifically, the top leadership roles of
735-459: The executive branch may include: In a presidential system , the leader of the executive is both the head of state and government. In some cases, such as South Korea , there is a Prime Minister who assists the President, but who is not the head of government. In a parliamentary system , a cabinet minister responsible to the legislature is the head of government, while the head of state
SECTION 20
#1732801077603770-400: The executive requires the support and approval of the legislature, the two bodies are "fused" together, rather than being independent. The principle of parliamentary sovereignty means powers possessed by the executive are solely dependent on those granted by the legislature, which can also subject its actions to judicial review. However, the executive often has wide-ranging powers stemming from
805-471: The executive, and interpreted by the judiciary . The executive can also be the source of certain types of law or law-derived rules, such as a decree or executive order . In those that use fusion of powers , typically parliamentary systems , such as the United Kingdom , the executive forms the government, and its members generally belong to the political party that controls the legislature. Since
840-483: The executive. In political systems based on the separation of powers , such as the United States of America , government authority is distributed between several branches in order to prevent power being concentrated in the hands of a single person or group. To achieve this, each branch is subject to checks by the other two; in general, the role of the legislature is to pass laws, which are then enforced by
875-623: The families of the victims). The other two were Surendre Rambocus and Jiwansingh Sheombar who were already imprisoned for attempting a countercoup in March 1982. Soldiers of Dési Bouterse ( dictator of Suriname at the time) took them to Fort Zeelandia (at that time Bouterse's headquarters), where they were heard as "suspects in a trial" by Bouterse and other sergeants in a self-appointed court. After these "hearings" they were tortured and shot dead. The circumstances remain unclear. On 10 December 1982, Bouterse claimed on national television that all of
910-522: The general inexperience of LPF cabinet members led to the rapid implosion of the cabinet after a little more than two months. The first scandal in the new government came only nine hours after it took office. Philomena Bijlhout , the State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment and a member of the LPF, resigned after RTL 4 reported that she had been a member of a militia of Surinamese military dictator Dési Bouterse in 1982 and 1983. This
945-474: The murders continue to exert an influence on Surinamese politics. After the 2010 general election , won by Bouterse, then- president Ronald Venetiaan refused to even mention Bouterse's name or congratulate him; Venetiaan, the Minister of Education in the government of Henck Arron , prime minister of the government overthrown by Bouterse in 1980, was a personal friend of most of the fifteen victims. After
980-461: The murders, but he then also explicitly stated that he personally had not 'pulled the trigger' to kill the fifteen men. In March 2012, however, a former confidant of Bouterse testified under oath that Bouterse himself had shot two of the victims. After their abduction, the fifteen victims were transported to Fort Zeelandia , the then headquarters of Bouterse and his soldiers in Paramaribo ,
1015-434: The other LPF ministers took the bait and told Bomhoff and Heinsbroek to resign, which they did on 16 October. Immediately, Zalm broke his commitment to the remaining LPF ministers to accept replacements for Bomhoff and Heinsbroek and called for fresh elections. Meetings with the Queen did not take place until the week after the resignation, since she had travelled to Italy immediately after the funeral. On 21 October she accepted
1050-409: The resignation and new elections were called for 22 January 2003. The cabinet remained in place as a demissionary cabinet , without Bomhoff and Heinsbroek, until the elections and formation of the second Balkenende cabinet . On 12 December 2002 Benk Korthals resigned as caretaker Minister of Defence after a commission of inquiry into building industry fraud accused him of giving false information to
1085-577: Was during the period when the militia had committed the political murders known as the " December Murders ". Bijlhout, who was born in Suriname, had never denied being part of the militia, but claimed she'd left prior to the December Murders. In the months following the election, the LPF was beset by power struggles between various factions. A big incident was when Immigration and Integration Minister Hilbrand Nawijn declared to be in favour of
First Balkenende cabinet - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-408: Was expected to continue the trial and consider this new fact by 30 November 2016, but this time the trial was postponed until 30 January because of illness of one of the judges. Eventually the court-martial ordered the prosecutor on 30 January 2017 to read the charges and ignore the instructions by the President because the matter was no longer in hands of the executive but of the judicial branch. Next,
1155-788: Was not murdered because, Bouterse told him, he was needed to cool the temper of the unions, which were frequently on strike at that time. Jozef Slagveer (25 January 1940) was a journalist and writer. He was born in Totness and graduated from the Free University in journalism. On his return to Suriname in 1967, he started work at the Ministry of Education. In 1971, he started a press agency and magazine together with Rudi Kross [ nl ] . His magazine uncovered several corruption scandals. He also published several books and poetry collections both in Dutch and Sranan Tongo . After
1190-496: Was not willing to accept a conviction by the court, as he was "appointed by God". On 29 November 2019, a military court came to a verdict. Of the main suspects, incumbent president Bouterse was found guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Main co-defendant Etienne Boerenveen [ nl ] was acquitted. Bouterse was sentenced in absentia , and filed an appeal. On 30 April 2021, Bouterse appeared in court where he used his right to silence . On 30 August 2021,
1225-413: Was the shortest since the fifth cabinet of Hendrikus Colijn (25 July 1939 – 10 August 1939). Executive (government) The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In democratic countries, the executive often exercises broad influence over national politics, though limitations are often applied to
#602397