King's commissioner

Clickable image of provinces of the Netherlands

The King's commissioner (Dutch: Commissaris van de Koning, abbreviated to CvdK) is the head of a province in the Netherlands. The officeholder chairs both the States Provincial (directly elected provincial legislature) and the Provincial Executive (executive branch), but has a right to vote only in the latter. When the reigning monarch is a female, the office is known as Queen's commissioner (Commissaris van de Koningin). As there are twelve provinces in the Netherlands, there are twelve King's commissioners.

There are two levels of

municipalities

. The three tiers are organised in largely the same way, with a directly elected legislature, which in turn chooses the executive branch, headed by an appointed chairman. At the national and municipal levels, these are the King and the Mayor; at the provincial level it is the King's commissioner.

Tasks of the King's commissioner

The King's Commissioner is not elected by the residents of the province, but appointed by the

political parties

, they are expected to be politically impartial while they are in office.

The King's Commissioners play a role within the provincial administration and are the official representatives of central government in the provinces. They coordinate

disaster management

and prevention and pay regular official visits to the municipalities in their region.

The King's Commissioners play an important part in the appointment of municipal

portfolio. They also oversee the official apparatus^{[clarification needed}

] and any provincial utilities and represent the province in its dealings with business.

Naming practice in Limburg

In the Dutch province of Limburg, the King's Commissioner is usually informally called Gouverneur ("governor"), as in Belgium. Similarly, the Provinciehuis ("Province Hall") at Maastricht is called Gouvernement ("Governor's Residence"). This local custom arose from the particular status of the province in the nineteenth century. The official name of the office is currently the same as in the other provinces.

List of current King's commissioners

Province			Serving since	Previous office
Drenthe	Jetta Klijnsma (born 1957)	Labour Party	1 December 2017 (6 years, 139 days)	State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment
Flevoland	Arjen Gerritsen (born 1970)	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	1 November 2023 (169 days)	Mayor of Almelo
Friesland	Arno Brok (born 1968)	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	1 March 2017 (7 years, 48 days)	Mayor of Dordrecht
Gelderland	John Berends (born 1956)	Christian Democratic Appeal	6 February 2019 (5 years, 72 days)	Mayor of Apeldoorn
Groningen	René Paas (born 1966)	Christian Democratic Appeal	18 April 2016 (8 years, 0 days)	Member of the Social and Economic Council
Limburg	Emile Roemer (born 1962)	Socialist Party	1 December 2021 (2 years, 139 days)	Acting Mayor of Alkmaar
North Brabant	Ina Adema (born 1968)	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	1 October 2020 (3 years, 200 days)	Mayor of Lelystad
North Holland	Arthur van Dijk (born 1963)	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	1 January 2019 (5 years, 108 days)	Member of the Social and Economic Council
Overijssel	Andries Heidema (born 1962)	Christian Union	11 July 2018 (5 years, 282 days)	Mayor of Deventer
South Holland	Jaap Smit (born 1957)	Christian Democratic Appeal	1 January 2014 (10 years, 108 days)	Member of the Social and Economic Council
Utrecht	Hans Oosters (born 1962)	Labour Party	1 February 2019 (5 years, 77 days)	Dijkgraaf
Zeeland	Han Polman (born 1963)	Democrats 66	1 March 2013 (11 years, 48 days)	Mayor of Bergen op Zoom