Despite the excitement of two more voting days in the Netherlands, this has been a pretty mellow election. While voting has started, for some, the campaigns are still going strong.
From 7:30 AM today, elderly and vulnerable voters have been able to enter polling stations. This is to ensure safe voting during the coronavirus pandemic. Spreading voting over three days has made this a historic election and we can expect the results to trickle in late in the evening of Wednesday, March 17. Not that the predicted results are groundbreaking.
VVD in the lead
According to the polls, Mark Rutte’s party – the VVD – are heading for the win. Politico published polls that put the party is ahead with 24% of the popular vote, followed by Freedom Party (PVV) with 14%. It’s a close call for third place, Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) taking 12% of the vote and D66 with 10%. The last few days have seen some momentum generated by the D66 campaign and a lacklustre performance by the CDA and their frontman Hoekstra, so these two parties might well swap spots.
Recently, Forum for Democracy (FvD) had been doing well in provincial council elections, coming out as the largest party. It has been experiencing severe internal struggles in the last few months but has recovered a bit in time for the general election. There will also be a few new kids on the parliamentary block, as among others, pan-European party Volt stands to gain a couple of seats.
Who’s ahead in the polls in the Netherlands?https://t.co/fmAlOgb5eR
Our current POLITICO Poll of Polls:
VVD: 24% (+3)
PVV: 13% (=)
CDA: 11% (-1)
D66: 10% (-2)
PvdA: 8% (+3)
GL: 7% (-2)+/- vs. previous election#Verkiezingen2021 pic.twitter.com/7xw3WMHqsN
— POLITICO Poll of Polls (@pollofpolls_EU) March 9, 2021
Coronavirus at the forefront of the debate
Unsurprisingly, coronavirus has been the hot topic of political debate during this election campaign. The usual big hitters such as housing, healthcare, and the environment have fallen to the wayside of political discussion.
Most of the parties have a similar attitude towards combatting the virus. The only party that seems to disagree is FvD who is in favour of opening the country fully as soon as possible.
Are you surprised by the polls? Let us know in the comments below!
Feature Image: Arnaud Jaegers/Unsplash