On March 18, the Netherlands will elect the members of 342 local councils and hundreds of thousands of foreign residents will also be able to vote. Here’s what you need to know about local government in the Netherlands and voting in the elections.
Who can vote
To vote in the national elections you must have Dutch nationality, but the situation is different in the local elections. These categories of residents can vote:
1. Dutch nationals
2. EU nationals
3. Foreign nationals who have lived officially in the Netherlands for more than five years
If you are eligible to vote, you will automatically receive a voting card posted by your local council. You need to take this card, and ID, to the polling station when you go to cast your vote.
Voting takes place in polling stations, usually located in schools, community centres and other public buildings. Some councils set up polling stations in railway stations to catch early morning commuters or other odd places, such as churches or even a windmill to encourage people to vote.
The polling stations are open from 7.30am to 9pm, when the count begins. Municipal elections are held every four years.
How local government works
The Netherlands is a parliamentary democracy with two chambers: the lower house of parliament or Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal with 150 seats, and the senate or Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal which has 75 seats.
All Dutch nationals aged 18 or over can vote for members of the Tweede Kamer – compulsory voting was abolished in 1970. The political make-up of the senate is based on the proportion of votes parties get in the elections for the 12 provincial councils, or Provinciale Staten.
The third tier in government is the 342 local councils, or gemeentes. They range in size from Amsterdam and Rotterdam to conglomerations of small villages. Amsterdam and Rotterdam also have a fourth layer, the district committees, which focus on very local issues.
The number of councillors in a gemeenteraad depends on the size of the local authority area. Councils with a population of more than 200,000 residents have 45 members and the smallest, with fewer than 3,000 residents, just nine.
Local councils are run by the mayor (who is appointed by the crown) and a team of wethouders, or executives. The college van burgemeester en wethouders (B&W) is the local authority equivalent of the national government’s cabinet.
As with national government, the Dutch electoral system makes coalition councils inevitable. As soon as the votes have been counted, work begins on putting together a working coalition. Once a coalition has been identified and agreed, the councillors appoint the executives who are, in effect, local government ministers. This process can take several weeks.
What do local authorities do?
Some 90% of local council funding in the Netherlands comes from national government. Councils themselves raise money through local property taxes, waste collection and water charges, parking fees, road taxes, tourist taxes and dog taxes.
The main tasks of local councils are:
1. Ensuring sufficient housing, planning future developments and drawing up zoning laws, together with housing corporations.
2. Ensuring traffic flows smoothly within the local road network. This includes building local roads, tunnels and cycle tracks.
3. Waste collection, road cleaning.
4. Providing schools, parks, libraries and sports facilities and allocating subsidies when necessary.
5. Keeping council residency registers, issuing passports, ID cards and driving licences.
6. Dealing with welfare benefit claims (bijstand) and helping people get back into work.
7. Providing youth care, including psychiatric services for young people.
Get involved
A number of meetings and other events are being organised to alert the Netherlands’ international population to the elections as political parties wake up to the expat vote.
Amsterdam
In Amsterdam, five parties of the biggest city parties will hold an English language debate on March 9, sponsored by Dutch News and IamExpat.
The PvdA in Amsterdam is holding a political cafe for international and Dutch residents on March 21 and everyone is welcome to come along and have their say.
The Hague
In The Hague, no less than three events are being planned: The Hague Municipal Election Debate will take place on February 24, a second event is being held on March 10 at The Hague Tech while the Student & Stand Debate is on March 5.
Expaterience, the English-language talk show produced by and for the
international community in The Hague, is hosting an elections
special on February 27 featuring a debate in English between candidates from the
four biggest parties on the current council: Hart voor Den Haag, D66, GroenLinks-PvdA and the VVD.
Eindhoven
University students have organised their own information guide for students and staff because “many of them had no idea they could vote” Radio Brainport has a series of interviews with candidates looking at the big issues in the region.
Groningen
Groningen will host a debate featuring nine political parties on February 24.
Maastricht
Maastricht University is hosting two events aimed at encouraging internationals to vote, an information evening on March 3 and a debate featuring three of the biggest parties on March 10. Radium Bolders is also hosting a political cafe on March 4.
If you are aware of other events or are organising one yourself, please send details to editor@dutchnews.nl so we can include them in our round-ups.
