Kiesraad/ The Electoral Council of the Netherlands

What Kiesraad/ The Electoral Council of the Netherlands does

Kiesraad (the Electoral Council of the Netherlands) is an independent Dutch government advisory body (overheidsorgaan) that serves as the central election bureau (centraal stembureau) under the Electoral Act (Kieswet). Headquartered at Muzenstraat 85 in The Hague and operating with 11-50 employees, it administers national elections (Tweede Kamer, Eerste Kamer, European Parliament, provincial, municipal, water board, and Caribbean Netherlands island council elections), maintains the official register of political party names and logos, validates candidate nominations, certifies and publishes official results, and provides advisory opinions to the Dutch government and parliament on electoral law and procedure.

Its core technology products are domain-specific election management software platforms developed in-house. OSV2020 (Ondersteunende Software Verkiezingen 2020) is a three-module suite: OSV2020-PP for political parties to produce candidate lists, OSV2020-KS for central election bureaus to validate candidate nominations, and OSV2020-U for aggregating polling-station vote totals and computing seat distribution. Security features include digital signing of result files, mandatory dual-operator (four-eyes) data entry, and automatic network isolation of the tabulation environment. Abacus, in development since 2022 and released as open source on GitHub, is the planned replacement for OSV2020-U, emphasizing transparent, verifiable seat-allocation logic. The EML (Election Markup Language) XML standard provides data interchange between election systems. Supporting services include the public Databank verkiezingsuitslagen (nationwide election results database), the Register van aanduidingen (party name/logo registry with spill-over effect to sub-national elections), formal evaluation advisories after each election cycle, and an RSS-fed public information portal at kiesraad.nl hosted on Platform Rijksoverheid Online.

Kiesraad's business model is not commercial. It is funded through the national budget under the Ministry of Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties and provides services to municipalities, political parties, citizens, and the Caribbean Netherlands free of charge. The only transactional element is a €450 refundable fee for party name registration. The organization shares a Data Protection Officer with the ministry, complies with WCAG 2.2 and AVG/GDPR, and operates with constitutional independence in its advisory role. Its customer segments are effectively the full Dutch electorate and governing apparatus, served through a single national bureau model.

Name

Kiesraad/ The Electoral Council of the Netherlands

Legal name

Kiesraad

Website

https://kiesraad.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

1917

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Kiesraad is the constitutionally mandated central election bureau of the Netherlands, administering national, regional, and Caribbean elections, certifying results, and advising parliament on electoral law. It develops and maintains election management software (OSV2020 and Abacus) for municipalities and political parties.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Electoral Administration Services

NAICS

Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support (921), Public Administration (92)

akta.pro primary industry

City Clerk/Records, Elections & Civic Engagement (BPAIACAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Electoral Support & Election Observation (BPADAGAA)

Keywords

• Election administration services
• Electoral software
• Vote counting systems
• Candidate nomination management
• Political party registration

Headquarters

HQ city

The Hague

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Kiesraad is the central election bureau of the Netherlands that administers national, European, provincial, water board, municipal, and island elections. It registers political parties and candidate nominations, certifies and announces official election results, develops election management software (OSV2020 and Abacus), and advises the Dutch government and parliament on electoral law.

Product overview

Kiesraad operates as the Electoral Council of the Netherlands, providing both election administration services and election management software. The core technology products consist of OSV2020 (a three-module election software suite for candidate nomination, result aggregation, and seat distribution) and its successor Abacus (open-source software for election result calculation). The organization also maintains the Register van aanduidingen, the official registry of registered party names and logos for Dutch elections. These products support various election types including Tweede Kamer, provinciale staten, waterschappen, Eerste Kamer, and eilandsraad elections across both European Netherlands and Caribbean Netherlands (BES islands). The EML-standaard provides interoperability standards for election data exchange.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• OSV2020 (Ondersteunende Software Verkiezingen 2020) A suite of three software programs used by political parties, municipalities, and central election bureaus in the Netherlands to create candidate nomination documents, validate candidate nominations, and aggregate vote totals into seat distributions. Replaced the original OSV system.
• Abacus Open-source software for election result aggregation and seat allocation calculation. Developed in-house by Kiesraad and designed to replace the Uitslagvaststelling module of OSV2020. Named after the abacus counting frame to symbolize transparent and simple calculations aligned with election integrity principles.
• EML-standaard (Election Markup Language Standard) An XML-based standard for election data interoperability. Enables standardized exchange of election-related data between different systems and stakeholders in the Dutch electoral process.
• Register van aanduidingen (Party Name and Logo Register) The official registry maintained by Kiesraad containing all registered party names (aanduidingen) and logos for Tweede Kamer elections, including statutory names, addresses, and contact information of each registered party. Registrations carry spill-over effect to Eerste Kamer, Provinciale Staten, waterschappen, and municipal elections.
• Databank verkiezingsuitslagen (Election Results Database) A public database containing election results from all Dutch elections, including Tweede Kamer, provincial, municipal, water board, European Parliament, and island council elections. Enables public access to verified election outcomes for transparency and verification purposes.

Quantifiable outcome

• Elections conducted transparently with public counting of votes and publicly available election results
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems): Non-profit that provides technical assistance to election administration bodies worldwide, including software tools and advisory services — adjacent to Kiesraad's mandate and a potential partner for distributing Abacus-style election software.
• International IDEA: Intergovernmental organization supporting democratic electoral processes globally through research, capacity building, and standards — thematically aligned with Kiesraad's work on EML standards and could be a potential export channel for Abacus.

Direct peers

• Australian Electoral Commission: Australian statutory authority administering federal elections, maintaining electoral rolls, and enforcing the Electoral Act — comparable in scale, scope, and statutory mandate to Kiesraad.
• Elections Canada: Canada's independent federal election administrator responsible for conducting federal elections, maintaining the National Register of Electors, and enforcing electoral law — a direct counterpart to Kiesraad at the national level.
• Valmyndigheten (Swedish Election Authority): Sweden's central election authority responsible for organizing general elections and referendums and maintaining the electoral register — a Nordic peer with a comparable mandate to Kiesraad.
• UK Electoral Commission: Independent statutory body overseeing elections and referendums in the United Kingdom, regulating campaign finance and maintaining registers of political parties — directly analogous to Kiesraad's mandate in the Netherlands.

Others

• Logius (Dutch Government IT): Dutch government shared-services organization providing digital infrastructure (DigiD, eHerkenning) used by public entities including Kiesraad — an ecosystem participant and potential technology partner.

Regional players

• Bundeswahlleiter (German Federal Returning Officer): Germany's federal election authority organizing Bundestagswahlen and European Parliament elections — a neighboring European peer with a closely comparable mandate and operational model to Kiesraad.

Broad incumbents

• Federal Election Commission (US): Independent U.S. regulatory agency enforcing campaign finance law and administering federal election disclosure — broader in scope (focused on finance regulation rather than administration) but operates in the same election-governance domain as Kiesraad.
• OSCE/ODIHR: OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights conducts election observation and assessment across the OSCE region — comparable to Kiesraad from the perspective of electoral standards and observation methodology.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/kiesraad
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kiesraad

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kiesraad/ The Electoral Council of the Netherlands