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.
Background
Municipal elections are, unless exempted by an act of parliament, held every fourth year in the Netherlands as prescribed by the
constitution.
[, '' Constitution of the Netherlands''. Retrieved on 20 March 2014.] 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
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the Rom ...
, the elections were rescheduled to 19 March 2014. 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
Alphen aan den Rijn (; en, "Alphen upon Rhine" or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Old Rhine), where the r ...
,
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.
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
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
was formed.
Results
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.
The election results in the largest cities are as following:
Aftermath
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.".
References
External links
*
{{Dutch general elections
2014 elections in the Netherlands
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
March 2014 events in Europe