While many of the results in the local elections will not be confirmed until Thursday, the exit poll from The Hague indicates a big win for local populist party Hart voor den Haag.
The poll gives the party 17 seats in the 45-seat city council, with GroenLinks-PvdA and D66 both unchanged on eight. Support for the right-wing VVD has plunged from seven to three, while Geert Wilders’ far right PVV lost its only seat. Pan-European party Volt has won its first seat on the city council.
The result – which is only an exit poll – makes it extremely complicated to form a new coalition for the city.
Hart voor den Haag was excluded from the previous administration because party leader Richard de Mos was embroiled in a corruption case. He has since been cleared.
De Mos told NOS that his party would not exclude any other to form a new coalition in the city. “They will have to take our plans seriously,” he said.
In total, over 8,000 councillors were elected for 340 local councils on Thursday – in all but two of the total of 342 local authority areas.
GroenLinks win in Amsterdam
In Amsterdam, with 50% of the vote counted, GroenLinks has won 18% of the vote or nine seats on the 45-seat council, with D66 second on eight seats and the PvdA, or Labour party, also on eight. Groenlinks and the PvdA will merge in the Dutch capital now the election is over.
The preliminary result also puts the VVD on 10% of the vote and five seats on the council, while pan-European party Volt has doubled its support to two.
Turnout in the Dutch capital is slightly up on four years ago at 47%, according to local broadcaster AT5.
CDA grows in Eindhoven
In Eindhoven, support for the GroenLinks-PvdA alliance has dropped from 28% to 22%, after 60% of the votes have been counted. The Christian Democrats have risen from 11% to almost 18%.
Support for D66, the biggest party at the last general election, is up some two percentage points to almost 13%, while the VVD has dropped from 11% to just under 9%. The far right FvD has risen from 3% to 7.7%, according to local media group ED.nl.
Island dilemma
On the Wadden Sea island of Schiermonnikoog, with just 800 voters, the three local parties taking part in the election all won three seats on the nine-seat island council.
Ons Belangen, which is the biggest party by a fraction, was excluded from the coalition after the last elections.
On the neighbouring island of Vlieland, local parties won all nine seats. Most went to Nieuw Liberaal Vlieland, with four.
Frisian nationalism
In the Frisian council area of Noardeast Fryslân, which includes Dokkum and 52 other villages, plans to establish a refugee centre were a major issue during the election campaign.
The winner in the NOS exit poll is the Frisian national party FNP with six seats, two down on four years ago. Left-leaning local party SIN also lost two seats to take five.
Limburg heartland
In the Limburg town of Venlo, home of far-right leader Geert Wilders, the presence of many foreign workers was a major issue for locals. It will also be up to the next local council to decide about the location and size of a new refugee centre.
The NOS exit poll puts the CDA on eight seats with the GroenLinks-PvdA alliance down two seats on 2022 at seven.
The big winner in Venlo, according to NOS, is the anti-refugee Venloos Burger Initiatief, which is poised to win three seats on the town council. Wilders’ PVV won two seats, unchanged from four years ago.
