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Municipal elections were held on 19 March 2014 in most municipalities in the Netherlands. This election determines the composition of the municipal councils for the following four years.
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Background
editMunicipal elections are, unless exempted by an act of parliament, held every fourth year in the Netherlands as prescribed by the constitution.[1] The previous municipal elections were held on 3 March 2010, the elections were originally planned for 5 March 2014. Because this date coincided with Ash Wednesday, the elections were rescheduled to 19 March 2014.[2] The elections were held in all municipalities, except those that were amalgamated in 2013 and 2014 or were intended to amalgamate in 2015. Goeree-Overflakkee, Molenwaard and Schagen elected their councils late 2012; Alphen aan den Rijn, De Friese Meren, Heerenveen and Leeuwarden in November 2013; and 16 other municipalities will be involved in amalgamation and will have their elections in November 2014. There was some confusion among voters in these municipalities about these alternative dates.[3]
In the 2010 elections, local parties got 24% of the vote, with national parties taking most of the remaining seats. Since then a general election was held in 2012 for the House of Representatives. In this election, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Labour Party won a combined 79 out of 150 seats and formed a coalition government. These municipal elections were the first elections in the Netherlands since the new cabinet was formed.
Results
editLocal parties won 30% of the votes. The Christian Democratic Appeal became the largest party nationally, earning 14% of the votes. D66 and SP also saw significant rises compared to the 2010 elections, getting 12% and 7% respectively. VVD, although still ranked third nationwide, lost significantly compared to the 2010 elections, winning 12% of the votes. The undisputed loser of the elections, however, was the PvdA, getting 10% of the votes and losing its plurality in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague.
| Party | % Votes | % Seats | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local parties | 29.7% | 33.3% | 2,807 |
| Christen-Democratisch Appèl (CDA) | 14.3% | 17.7% | 1,495 |
| Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD) | 11.9% | 12.7% | 1,075 |
| Democraten 66 (D66) | 11.8% | 9.6% | 809 |
| Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) | 10.2% | 9.5% | 799 |
| Socialistische Partij (SP) | 6.5% | 5.2% | 443 |
| combination ChristenUnie-Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (CU-SGP) | 7.0% | 7.8% | 663 |
| GroenLinks (GL) | 5.2% | 4.0% | 335 |
| Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) | 0.2% | 0.2% | 16 |
| Partij voor de Dieren (PvdD) | 0.1% | 0.1% | 12 |
| Total | - | 100.00% | 8,454 |
The election results in the largest cities are as following:
| City | VVD | PvdA | PVV | CDA | SP | D66 | GL | Local | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | 6 | 10 | - | 1 | 6 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| Rotterdam | 3 | 8 | - | 3 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 16 | 2 |
| The Hague | 4 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| Utrecht | 5 | 5 | - | 3 | 4 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 3 |
Aftermath
editGeert Wilders's speech after the elections was widely seen as controversial because he led a chant at a rally after municipal elections last week, asking supporters in The Hague: "Do you want more or fewer Moroccans in this city and in the Netherlands?" The crowd chanted: "Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!", to which Wilders responded: "We'll take care of that.".[4]
References
edit- ^ Article 129, Constitution of the Netherlands. Retrieved on 20 March 2014.
- ^ (in Dutch) Gemeenteraden Archived 2014-02-09 at the Wayback Machine, Kiesraad. Retrieved on 19 March 2014.
- ^ "Friezen bellen: waar blijft stempas?" [Frisians call: where is the voter card?] (in Dutch). NOS. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
- ^ "Dutch right-winger losing party members over anti-Moroccan chant". Reuters. 22 March 2014.
External links
edit
Media related to Dutch municipal elections 2014 at Wikimedia Commons
