See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_board_(Netherlands)

The Greek geographer Pytheas noted of the Low Countries, as he passed them on his way to Heligoland around c. 325 BCE, that “more people died in the struggle against water than in the struggle against men”.

Since the 12th century we have the Waterschappen (Water boards) that are in control of water levels in the polders, dyke upkeep, water quality and other water related duties. Once every 4 years all Dutch adults are allowed to cast a vote for this governance body.

8 comments
  1. So far I haven’t heard any other country having church elections?

    There’s a Church election to the Church of Sweden every 4 years, last one was in 2021. Everyone who’s a member of the church gets to vote although because of how secular and irreligious we are the voter turn out is an abysmal 18% of the church members which are 56% of Sweden population. So less than a million people vote despite roughly 5 million having the right to vote in these elections.

    Something to note is that the Church has been losing members for decades, on average they lose roughly 50 000 to 60 000 people per year as a result of people leaving.

    It’s a real weird thing honestly, both political connected parties stand in the Church election and more Non-partisan alternatives. Roughly 71% voted for a nominating group that has a connection to a political party

  2. Sámi people have their own parliament. It’s a bit controversial topic because it’s hard to decide who can and who can’t vote.

    “Under the Section 3 of the Act on the Sámi Parliament a person is eligible to vote if they consider themselves as a Sámi, and:

    They, or one of their parents or grandparents was native Sámi speaker, or
    They are descended from a person in the mountain, forest, or fisher Lapp Sámi register (tunturi-, metsä tai kalastajalappalaiseksi), or
    At least one of their parents are, was, or could have been, eligible for voting at the Sámi Parliament of 1995 or the Sámi Council of 1973.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A1mi_Parliament_of_Finland

  3. Die “Sozialwahl”, the social elections.

    The state health and long-term care insurance funds and the pension and accident insurance funds administer themselves, so they have a certain independence from the German state.

    All insured persons from the age of 16 and pensioners are allowed to elect their representatives there every 6 years, we elect one half of the representatives, the employers the other half. Elections are not held by individuals, but by electoral lists. The electoral lists contain representatives of an association, e.g. a trade union.

    https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sozialwahl

  4. Co-operatives have quite a big share of the Finnish retail market. [S-Group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_Group) member co-operatives have combined 2.4 million members, and they may vote in elections for governing councils of their regional co-op once every four years.

  5. Every five years, we vote for the leaders of the Arbeiterkammer, a semi-governmental workers rights board that represents every employed person.

    Voter turnout is quite low, many people don’t care too much about the political direction they take, as long as the benefits don’t change.

  6. Church elections.

    “Welfare region” elections (areas mostly by regional lines that set the policies regarding healthcare and emergency services in the area)

    Sapmi parliament elections (They give the formal stance of the Sapmi people on most things and nothing more)

  7. Police and Crime Commissioners. They’re an elected chair for each police force in England and Wales (there are 40-odd) and are supposed to hold the budget for said police force and hold the Chief Constable (the professional head of a police force) to account. This is a bit of a sinecure that isn’t perceived as something that adds value to policing, it was brought in in the early 2010s in the government’s agenda of increased localism, but elections have had very low turnout/engagement and the role lacks clarity.

  8. There are elections for Church. A few months ago we had the elections for the Archbishop of Cyprus, last elections were in 2006(the Archbishop is for life). The way it works is that people vote for one of the candidates and the top 3(triprosopo=3-face) pass to the “second round”. In the “second round” there is some sort of council of priests that choose one of the three(not sure how exactly this work tbh-I think there is some sort of “third round” where one of them is disqualified, alliances-undeground deals etc happen).

    Any of the theee can be elected. In 2006 the one who was third(he got like 10%) somehow managed to win. He got one of the two to support him to proceed to the second round(to leave the other one out). And then he cooperated with the one who didn’t qualify to win.

    This time the one who was second won (He got like 18%, a bit higher than the 3rd while the first one got 35,5%-I think he is the same guy that lost in 2006).

    A similar election happens for local bishop elections

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