The Dutch municipal elections of 2018 were held on 21 March in 335 municipalities in the Netherlands. This election determined the composition of the municipal councils for the following four years. [1] The election coincided with the Intelligence and Security Services Act referendum. [2]
The Netherlands is a country located mainly in Northwestern Europe. The European portion of the Netherlands consists of twelve separate provinces that border Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, with maritime borders in the North Sea with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. Together with three island territories in the Caribbean Sea—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba— it forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The official language is Dutch, but a secondary official language in the province of Friesland is West Frisian.
In the Netherlands the municipal council is the elected assembly of the municipality. Its main role is laying down the guidelines for the policy of the council of mayor and aldermen and exercising control over its execution by the council of mayor and aldermen.
In the previous municipal elections, local political parties won by far most votes and seats. Nationally, all local political parties won 28% of the votes and a third of municipal council seats. [3] Local parties have seen a steady rise since the 1990s. In 2018, Vlieland will be the only municipality in which no national political parties will contest the election. [4]
Vlieland is a municipality and island in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland has one major town, Oost-Vlieland. It is the second most sparsely populated municipality in the Netherlands, after Schiermonnikoog.
Of all national political parties, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) will contest most municipal elections; the party will be on the ballot in all but three (Rozendaal, Vlieland and Schiermonnikoog). The Labour Party (PvdA) comes second, contesting over 320 elections, albeit on a joint list with allied parties in some municipalities. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) will participate in over 315 elections, and the Democrats 66 in over 270, followed by GroenLinks in 220, the Christian Union in 169, the Socialist Party in 118 and the Reformed Political Party (SGP) in 99.
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CDA was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union, and has participated in all but three governments since then. Sybrand van Haersma Buma has been the Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal since 18 May 2012.
Rozendaal is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. The town, next to Arnhem and Velp, is known for the Rozendaal Castle and its water fountain follies (bedriegertjes).
Schiermonnikoog is an island, a municipality, and a national park in the northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland. It is situated between the islands of Ameland and Rottumerplaat.
The Party for Freedom (PVV), which had previously only participated in The Hague and Almere, initially planned to expand to a total of sixty municipalities, but has only been able to find suitable candidates in thirty, including Rotterdam. 50PLUS will expand to twenty municipalities, while the Party for the Animals (PvdD) will contest fifteen elections. Two new national political parties will make their entrance to municipal politics. Denk will contest the elections in fourteen municipalities, while the Forum for Democracy will only contest in Amsterdam. Additionally, the latter has endorsed the local party Livable Rotterdam. [5]
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch nationalist and right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands.
The Hague is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands and the capital of the province of South Holland. It is also the seat of government of the Netherlands.
Almere is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. The municipality of Almere comprises six official areas that are the districts of Almere Stad, Almere Buiten and Almere Pampus, and the boroughs of Almere Haven, Almere Hout and Almere Poort. Four of them feature official district or borough offices. Furthermore, it also comprises the unofficial historic district and neighborhood Oostvaardersdiep, which has an active semi-self-governing community, and the planned district of Almere Oosterwold. Almere is part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA).
45 municipalities did not have elections on 21 March due to mergers.
Municipal councils are elected using party-list proportional representation. The number of seats depends on the population of the municipality, ranging from nine seats for municipalities with a population below 3,000, to 45 seats for municipalities with a population over 200,000.
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation (PR) in elections in which multiple candidates are elected through allocations to an electoral list. They can also be used as part of mixed additional member systems.
Party | Votes | Seats | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | +/− | ||
Local Parties | 1,945,904 | 28.65 | 2,566 | ||
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 916,930 | 13.50 | 1,117 | ||
Christian Democratic Appeal | 910,441 | 13.41 | 1,277 | ||
Democrats 66 | 623,671 | 9.18 | 594 | ||
GroenLinks | 602,157 | 8.87 | 520 | ||
Labour Party | 510,527 | 7.52 | 544 | ||
Socialist Party | 301,600 | 4.44 | 282 | ||
Christian Union | 260,007 | 3.83 | 300 | ||
Other Parties and combined lists | 720,467 | 10.52 | 686 | ||
6,849,788 [6] | 100.00 | 7886 |
Polling firm | Date | D66 | PvdA | VVD | SP | GL | PvdD | CDA | PvdO | CU | DENK | FvD | Bij1 | 50+ | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OIS | 17 Mar 2018 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0/1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0/1 | 1 |
Peil.nl | 10 Mar 2018 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Tied |
OIS | 17 Jan 2018 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0/1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0/1 | 2 |
Peil.nl | 10 Jan 2018 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Tied |
2014 election | 19 Mar 2014 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Did not contest | 4 |
Party | Votes | Seats | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | +/− | ||
GroenLinks | 70,880 | 20.42 | 10 | ||
Democrats 66 | 55,724 | 16.05 | 8 | ||
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 39,702 | 11.44 | 6 | ||
Labour Party | 37,181 | 10.71 | 5 | ||
Socialist Party | 26,070 | 7.51 | 3 | ||
Party for the Animals | 24,672 | 7.11 | 3 | ||
Denk | 23,138 | 6.67 | 3 | New | |
Forum for Democracy | 20,015 | 5.77 | 3 | New | |
Christian Democratic Appeal | 11,991 | 3.45 | 1 | ||
Party for the Elderly | 7,752 | 2.23 | 1 | ||
Christian Union | 6,837 | 1.97 | 1 | ||
Amsterdam Bij1 | 6,571 | 1.89 | 1 | New |
Polling firm | Date | LR | PvdA | D66 | SP | VVD | CDA | GL | NIDA | CU-SGP | PvdD | PVV | DENK | 50+ | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peil.nl | 18 Feb 2018 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Peil.nl | 25 Jan 2018 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
2014 election | 19 Mar 2014 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Did not contest | 6 |
Party | Votes | Seats | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | +/− | ||
Livable Rotterdam | 47,312 | 20.50 | 11 | ||
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 24,641 | 10.68 | 5 | ||
Democrats 66 | 22,920 | 9.93 | 5 | ||
GroenLinks | 22,721 | 9.85 | 5 | ||
Labour Party | 22,275 | 9.65 | 5 | ||
Denk | 16,955 | 7.35 | 4 | New | |
NIDA | 12,389 | 5.37 | 2 | ||
Socialist Party | 11,389 | 4.93 | 2 | ||
Christian Democratic Appeal | 10,756 | 4.66 | 2 | ||
Party for Freedom | 8,149 | 3.53 | 1 | New | |
Party for the Animals | 8,091 | 3.51 | 1 | ||
50PLUS | 7,359 | 3.19 | 1 | New | |
Christian Union – Reformed Political Party | 6,956 | 3.01 | 1 |
Polling firm | Date | D66 | PVV | PvdA | HSP | VVD | CDA | GDM [H 1] | SP | GL | ID | PvdE | CU-SGP | PvdD | 50+ | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I&O Research | 14 Mar 2018 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
I&O Research | 21 Feb 2018 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
I&O Research | 31 Jan 2018 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
2014 election | 19 Mar 2014 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Did not contest | 1 |
Party | Votes | Seats | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | +/− | ||
Group de Mos / Heart for The Hague | 32,632 | 16.80 | 8 | ||
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 26,990 | 13.90 | 7 | ||
Democrats 66 | 23,973 | 12.34 | 6 | ||
GroenLinks | 20,684 | 10.65 | 5 | ||
Christian Democratic Appeal | 12,618 | 6.50 | 3 | ||
Labour Party | 12,567 | 6.47 | 3 | ||
The Hague City Party | 10,897 | 5.61 | 3 | ||
Party for the Animals | 10,201 | 5.25 | 2 | ||
Party for Freedom | 9,036 | 4.65 | 2 | ||
Islam Democrats | 6,943 | 3.57 | 1 | ||
Christian Union – Reformed Political Party | 6,129 | 3.16 | 1 | ||
Socialist Party | 5,176 | 2.66 | 1 | ||
NIDA | 4,481 | 2.31 | 1 | New | |
50PLUS | 4,444 | 2.29 | 1 | New | |
Party of Unity | 4,026 | 2.07 | 1 |
Polling firm | Date | D66 | GL | VVD | PvdA | SP | CDA | SBU | CU | S&S | PvdD | DENK | PVV | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peil.nl | 24 Jan 2018 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
2014 election | 19 Mar 2014 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Did not contest | 4 |
Party | Votes | Seats | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | +/− | ||
GroenLinks | 36,231 | 22.96 | 12 | ||
Democrats 66 | 32,735 | 20.74 | 10 | ||
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 20,522 | 13.00 | 6 | ||
Labour Party | 9,812 | 6.22 | 3 | ||
Christian Democratic Appeal | 8,428 | 5.34 | 2 | ||
Party for the Animals | 8,317 | 5.27 | 2 | ||
Denk | 7,662 | 4.85 | 2 | New | |
Christian Union | 6,451 | 4.09 | 2 | ||
Student & Starter | 6,445 | 4.08 | 2 | ||
Socialist Party | 6,419 | 4.07 | 2 | ||
Party for Freedom | 5,915 | 3.75 | 1 | New | |
City Interest Utrecht | 4,295 | 2.72 | 1 |
Polling firm | Date | SP | GL | D66 | PvdA | VVD | GN | CDA | DNF | 50+ | PvdD | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peil.nl | 24 Jan 2018 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
2014 election | 19 Mar 2014 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 [N 1] | Did not contest | Tied |
Party | Votes | Seats | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | +/− | ||
GroenLinks | 20,149 | 24.77 | 11 | ||
Democrats 66 | 12,045 | 14.81 | 6 | ||
Socialist Party | 10,865 | 13.36 | 5 | ||
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 8,407 | 10.34 | 4 | ||
City Party Nijmegen | 6,355 | 7.81 | 3 | ||
Labour Party | 5,747 | 7.07 | 3 | ||
Christian Democratic Appeal | 4,094 | 5.03 | 2 | ||
Party for the Animals | 3,694 | 4.54 | 2 | New | |
50PLUS | 3,001 | 3.69 | 1 | New | |
Just Nijmegen | 2,815 | 3.46 | 1 | ||
ForNijmegen.NOW | 1,845 | 2.27 | 1 | New |
The Labour Party is a social democratic political party in the Netherlands.
Barendrecht is a town and lordship in the Netherlands, located as a suburb of Rotterdam in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of 48,474 in 2017, and covers an area of 21.73 km2 (8.39 sq mi) of which 1.90 km2 (0.73 sq mi) is water. The writer Jan Geurt Gaarlandt has been Lord of Barendrecht since 1995.
Livable Rotterdam is a local political party in the municipality of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which was founded by Ronald Sørensen in 2001. It won the council elections of March 2002 due to the charismatic leadership of Pim Fortuyn. This made it the city's largest political party, a position which for the previous thirty years had been held by the Labour Party. Livable Rotterdam started as a spin-off of the national party Livable Netherlands but is commonly seen as the local party of the LPF, the national party of Pim Fortuyn which was founded just after Pim Fortuyn was fired as lijsttrekker of the Livable Netherlands party in spring 2002.
The Socialist Party is a left-wing, democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands.
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The Party for the Animals is a political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare, though it claims not to be a single-issue party. The party considers itself a testimonial party, which does not seek to gain political power but to testify its beliefs and thereby influence other parties.
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The Fourth Balkenende cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The cabinet was formed by the political parties Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Labour Party (PvdA) and the Christian Union (CU) after the election of 2006. The grand coalition cabinet was a majority government in the House of Representatives.
The Government of Rotterdam is the government of the municipality and city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Most of the inhabitants live in the city of Rotterdam, but the municipality also covers a number of small villages, and other parts of the local government, such as Rozenburg, cover an even larger area.
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Hollands Kroon is a municipality located in the Northwest Netherlands. It was created on 1 January 2012, as a merger of four municipalities: Anna Paulowna, Niedorp, Wieringen, and Wieringermeer.
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General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives.
The 2014 European Parliament election for the election of the delegation from the Netherlands was held on 22 May 2014. This is the 8th time the elections have been held for the European elections in the Netherlands.
The Dutch municipal elections of 2014 were held on 19 March in most municipalities in the Netherlands. This election determines the composition of the municipal councils for the following four years.
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