Former electoral district in the Netherlands
Alkmaar was an electoral district of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands from 1848 to 1918.
Profile.
The electoral district of Alkmaar was centred around the city of Alkmaar in North Holland. After a brief period with provisional boundaries, the two-seat district created in 1850 stretched along much of the west coast of North Holland, from Den Helder and three Frisian Islands in the north to the North Sea Canal and Zaandam in the south. Minor boundary revisions in 1858, 1864, 1869 and 1878 transferred some municipalities in the south, including Zaandam in 1864, to the district of Haarlem, while it (re)gained some rural areas east of Alkmaar, some of which had been part of the district in the 1848–1850 period, at the expense of the Hoorn district. Alkmaar shrank considerably in the 1888 revision, which changed the district to a single-seat district, with most of its northern and southern areas ceded to the newly created districts of Den Helder and Beverwijk, respectively. It retained these boundaries until the district was abolished in 1918.
Through the district's existence, its population steadily increased from 44,163 in 1850 to 55,550 in 1909, despite losing territory in 1864 and 1888. From 1850 to 1888, a majority of around 60% the population was Reformed, with another 25 to 30% being Catholic. After the 1888 boundary revision, the share of Reformed Christians dropped gradually from 54.6% in 1888 to 47.6% in 1909, with Catholics, "Gereformeerden" and Others each increasing their share of the population.
The district of Alkmaar was abolished upon the introduction of party-list proportional representation in 1918.
Members.
Alkmaar was a liberal safe seat throughout its existence. It was represented by one member between 1848 and 1850, two between 1850 and 1888, and one again from 1888 until its abolition in 1918. Some of its prominent members include later chairman of the Council of Ministers Jan Jacob Rochussen (1852–1857), Cornelis van Foreest (1853–1869) and his son Pieter van Foreest (1903–1918), Jacob Leonard de Bruyn Kops (1868–1887) and later minister of Justice Willem van der Kaay (1875–1894).
References.
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