Elections of the Provincial council

The members of the provincial council are elected directly once every four years. The Netherlands has twelve provinces. The number of members of the provincial council depends on the number of inhabitants of a province.
One of the special powers of the provincial council is the election of members to the Upper House. A certain weight is assigned to the vote of each member of the provincial council. This weight (‘vote value’) differs from province to province, since the populations vary from province to province. For instance, a member of the provincial council in a more thinly populated province represents fewer inhabitants than a member of the provincial council in the densely populated provinces.