The Dutch municipal elections of 2022 were held on 16 March in 333

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. This election determined the composition of the municipal councils for the following four years.

Background

In the previous municipal elections, local political parties won by far the most votes and seats. Nationally, all local political parties won a total of 29% of the votes and around a third of municipal council seats. Local parties have seen a steady rise since the 1990s and in

Vlieland Vlieland (; fry, Flylân) is a municipality and island in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland is the second most sparsely populated municipality in the Netherlands, after Schiermonnikoog. Vlieland is one of the West Frisia ...

there are only local parties that participate. Of all national political parties, the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

(CDA) will contest the most municipal elections; the party will be on the ballot in all but five (

Diemen Diemen () is a town and municipality with a population of in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is located approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) southeast of Amsterdam's city centre, within the Amsterdam metropolitan area. Etymology The name ...

Ouder-Amstel Ouder-Amstel () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Population centres The municipality of Ouder-Amstel consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: Duivendrecht, Ouderkerk aan de Amstel ...

Rozendaal 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 (''Kasteel Rosendael'') and its water fountain follies (''bedriegertjes''). ...

and Schiermonnikoog). The

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD) comes in second, contesting in 317 elections, while Democrats 66 participates in 289 elections. The Labour Party (PvdA) will participate in 303 elections, and

GroenLinks GroenLinks (, ) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and t ...

in 229, many of which are joint lists between the two parties. Meanwhile, the

ChristianUnion The Christian Union ( nl, ChristenUnie, CU) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues while holding more social ...

runs in 175 and the Reformed Political Party (SGP) in 96, with these parties also having many joint lists. The

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

participates in 86,

Forum for Democracy Forum for Democracy ( nl, Forum voor Democratie, FvD) is a right-wing populist Eurosceptic political party in the Netherlands that was founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections ...

(FvD), which had previously only participated in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, has expanded significantly to participate in 50 elections. The Party for Freedom (PVV) participates in 31, Party for the Animals (PvdD) in 30, DENK in 20,

50PLUS 50PLUS (; abbreviated 50+) is a political party in the Netherlands that advocates pensioners' interests. The party was founded in 2009 by Maurice Koopman, Alexander Münninghoff, and Jan Nagel. Henk Krol served as the party's leader from 2016 to ...

in 19 and

BIJ1 BIJ1 (; ), formerly known as Article 1 (), is a political party in the Netherlands. It was founded in Amsterdam in 2016 by Sylvana Simons, a television personality who was formerly connected to another party, Denk. BIJ1 aligns itself as an ant ...

in 5. There are also 3 national parties participating for the first time in municipal elections, BvNL in 20 municipalities,

Volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defin ...

in 10, and

JA21 JA21 (, backronym for Juiste Antwoord 2021, or 'Right Answer 2021') is a political party in the Netherlands, currently active in the Senate as the Nanninga Group (). It was founded in December 2020 by Joost Eerdmans and Annabel Nanninga after ...

only in

. Twelve municipalities will not have elections on 16 March due to mergers.

Electoral system

Municipal councils are elected using

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...

. 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. All people above the age of 18, who are registered in a municipality, and have not been excluded from voting following a court's decision are eligible to vote. Dutch citizenship is not required to be eligible to vote for municipal elections, non-EU nationals who have legally resided in the Netherlands for at least five years and EU citizens are also eligible to vote.

National

Opinion polling

Results

Amsterdam

Opinion polling

Results

Rotterdam

Opinion polling

Results

The Hague

Opinion polling

Results

Utrecht

Opinion polling

Results

Groningen

Opinion polling

Results

Nijmegen

Results

Notes

References

External links

* {{Dutch general elections 2022 elections in the Netherlands

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

March 2022 events in the Netherlands