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2014 Dutch municipal elections

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2014 Dutch municipal elections

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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.

Background

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Municipal 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

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Local 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

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Geert 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

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  1. ^ Article 129, Constitution of the Netherlands. Retrieved on 20 March 2014.
  2. ^ (in Dutch) Gemeenteraden Archived 2014-02-09 at the Wayback Machine, Kiesraad. Retrieved on 19 March 2014.
  3. ^ "Friezen bellen: waar blijft stempas?" [Frisians call: where is the voter card?] (in Dutch). NOS. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  4. ^ "Dutch right-winger losing party members over anti-Moroccan chant". Reuters. 22 March 2014.
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