Last night, the Netherlands held its municipal elections to elect the local municipal councils — with some…interesting results.
This year, just barely 50% of voters showed up to the polls, compared to 54% of eligible voters who cast their ballots in 2018, says RTL Nieuws.
A dip in turnout
In the past three previous municipal elections, voter turnout varied around 55% (2010, 2014, and 2018). 🗳
The 2022 municipal elections suffered a pretty big drop in turnout but no one is sure why. One theory is that the focus on the Ukraine war might have undermined election campaigns.
The Minister of Internal Affairs is already looking to investigate the causes. 🕵🏻
Local parties dominate
Local parties in municipalities come out on top this year! A whopping 36.4% of all votes went to support local parties in municipalities across the country.
While local parties tend to be successful in municipal elections, it seems they have grown even stronger this election year. 💪🏼
Local parties in Den Haag and Rotterdam won the most votes. Cities in all corners of the Netherlands including Maastricht, Delft, Vlissingen, and the Wadden Islands also voted local parties to the top. 🔝
A blow to national parties
The country’s governing party VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy) and party-in-crime CDA (Christian Democratic Appeal) are the largest national parties coming out of the election, despite losing votes overall.
In 2018, both parties received 13% of votes — but they only gained 11% each this year around.
The other parties in the national government, Christian Union and D66 (Democrats 66) also lost votes.
The SP (Socialist Party) was also a big loser in these elections — the party lost ground in most major cities and also in the traditional “red stronghold” province Groningen. 🔴
But on the brighter side, other left-wing parties like PvdA and GroenLinks fared well in most municipalities.
PvdA made an especially big win as they gained four seats in Amsterdam out of a total of nine. They tied with GroenLinks, who lost one seat in these elections. 🟢
Did you vote in the municipal elections 2022? Were they what you expected? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!