The Netherlands: Left wins local elections

[Angel of Death]

The social-democratic PvdA and the more radical socialist SP have won the municipality elections in the Netherlands.

[freek]

The social-democratic PvdA and the more radical socialist SP have won the municipality elections in the Netherlands.

Yeah. Too bad.

The PvdA lost about 500 seats in 2002 though, now they win 671 seats. A bit more than I expected. Coalition parties CDA, VVD and D66 all lose seats. The local parties that won a lot of seats in 2002 were decimated yesterday.

The SP won, although most of these wins came from municipalities where the SP took part for the first time.

VVD leader Van Aartsen resigned this morning. The VVD had a useless campaign, and Van Aartsen was criticized by a lot of VVD MPs.

All results may be found on http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/uitslaggr2006/

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Some interesting results; in Rotterdam the PvdA is up 15pts on 2002.

[Cubby]

Boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So will List Pim Fortuyn just cease to exist without him as its leader?

As long as the left doesn't go back to their appeasement policy towards fascist Muslims, then maybe things will get better.

[WMS]

Question: who are these people: Lokale Onafh Groep ?

[ag]

Question: who are these people: Lokale Onafh Groep ?

I don't know Dutch, but, by analogy with German, it should be "Local independent group".

[minionofmidas]

You betcha that's what it means.

[WMS]

Thanks to both ag and Lewis

[minionofmidas]

Thanks to both ag and Lewis

You're welcome. Very very welcome.

[WMS]

Thanks to both ag and Lewis

You're welcome. Very very welcome.

Which doesn't mean I'm happy the CDA lost seats o/c

[Democratic Hawk]

I don't know much about Dutch politics but is there a general Left/Urban - Right/Rural split or are things a little more complicated than that?

Is religious affiliation still a salient factor in voting or not?

Dave

[YoMartin]

I don't know much about Dutch politics but is there a general Left/Urban - Right/Rural split or are things a little more complicated than that?

Is religious affiliation still a salient factor in voting or not?

Dave

They´ve got all kind of cleavages. I guess not as many as Belgium, but almost...

I liked D66. But they do seem to be heading towards extintion...

[freek]

Boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So will List Pim Fortuyn just cease to exist without him as its leader?

Leefbaar Rotterdam (LPF Rotterdam) didn't score that bad, they only lost three seats. However, the LR/CDA/VVD coalition lost its majority, and the PvdA has won a lot of seats.

But LPF will probably cease to exist. There is some realignment in that area. VVD MP Geert Wilders, highly critical about islam, Turkey, et cetera has left the VVD and has founded a new party, the Freedom Party. It is possible that some LPF MPs will follow him. Also Leefbaar Rotterdam leader Pastors (LPF Rotterdam) will probably take part in the general election of May 2007, but it is unknown if he joins the Freedom Party.

[freek]

Question: who are these people: Lokale Onafh Groep ?

I don't know Dutch, but, by analogy with German, it should be "Local independent group".

Correct. They are local parties. Usually such a party is named "Gemeentebelangen" (Municipal Interests) or "Stadspartij" (City Party) or they are just named after their leader. Their popularity started in the Catholic South (N-Brabant and Limburg) before WWII. At that time the Catholic People's Party won >80% of the votes in these areas. However, usually they didn't take part in local elections before 1980.

Instead, local lists were founded. They are still very strong in the South, but in more and more municipalities these independent lists were founded. Their program is usually pragmatic and centrist.

[freek]

I don't know much about Dutch politics but is there a general Left/Urban - Right/Rural split or are things a little more complicated than that?

More or less, yes. Cities vote more left wing than the surrounding country side, although in suburbia the right wing VVD is also quite popular. Some exceptions exist. In the rural north east (Groningen, Drenthe, Friesland) people tend to vote left. PvdA is strong in these areas. In the Catholic south, CDA still scores higher than usual.

In general political parties in the Netherlands can be divided in three groups: Left (PvdA/GroenLinks/SP), Liberal (usually right wing): VVD, LPF, D66 (quite left though) and Christian (centrist): CDA, ChristenUnie and SGP.

Due to secularisation CDA has lost quite some ground to VVD the last 50 years and some to PvdA. However, PvdA has lost some to VVD as well. PvdA is also more centrist than it used to be in the 80s. Just like the British Labour Party.

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It depends on the affiliation, but usually not that much anymore.

Voters without religious affiliation usually have some antipathy towards CDA. The huge wins of CDA in the 80s were caused by the popularity of prime minister Lubbers, the wins of 2002-3 were caused by the collapse of PvdA and VVD and later LPF.

ChristenUnie and SGP voters are Calvinists. Their policies are not unlike the US Christian Coalition. Their voters are extremely loyal towards the parties.

Most CDA voters are Christians, both Catholics and more liberal Calvinists. However, the CDA is greying, and CDA voters are not that faithful towards voting CDA anymore.

Muslims usually vote left wing. PvdA for example. CDA does have Hindu and Muslim MPs though.

[freek]

VVD leader Van Aartsen resigned this morning. The VVD had a useless campaign, and Van Aartsen was criticized by a lot of VVD MPs.

And the new leader is Mark Rutte, junior minister for education. The VVD campaign leader.  .

He's very Blairite, just like PvdA leader Wouter Bos.

[Democratic Hawk]

I don't know much about Dutch politics but is there a general Left/Urban - Right/Rural split or are things a little more complicated than that?

More or less, yes. Cities vote more left wing than the surrounding country side, although in suburbia the right wing VVD is also quite popular. Some exceptions exist. In the rural north east (Groningen, Drenthe, Friesland) people tend to vote left. PvdA is strong in these areas. In the Catholic south, CDA still scores higher than usual.

In general political parties in the Netherlands can be divided in three groups: Left (PvdA/GroenLinks/SP), Liberal (usually right wing): VVD, LPF, D66 (quite left though) and Christian (centrist): CDA, ChristenUnie and SGP.

Due to secularisation CDA has lost quite some ground to VVD the last 50 years and some to PvdA. However, PvdA has lost some to VVD as well. PvdA is also more centrist than it used to be in the 80s. Just like the British Labour Party.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It depends on the affiliation, but usually not that much anymore.

Voters without religious affiliation usually have some antipathy towards CDA. The huge wins of CDA in the 80s were caused by the popularity of prime minister Lubbers, the wins of 2002-3 were caused by the collapse of PvdA and VVD and later LPF.

ChristenUnie and SGP voters are Calvinists. Their policies are not unlike the US Christian Coalition. Their voters are extremely loyal towards the parties.

Most CDA voters are Christians, both Catholics and more liberal Calvinists. However, the CDA is greying, and CDA voters are not that faithful towards voting CDA anymore.

Muslims usually vote left wing. PvdA for example. CDA does have Hindu and Muslim MPs though.

Thanks , I have a better understanding of Dutch politics now

Dave

[ag]

One thing to notice is that PvDA is now the largest vote getter in the capital and (when these are different) the largest city of every province. Another thing to notice that the parties w/ Leefbar in the name lost 15 out of 17 municipalities where they'd been the largest vote getters, still leading only in 2 small towns, one in Flevoland and one in Limburg. I was having an insomnia a couple of nights ago and looked at who came on top in how many municipalities (I know that sort of thing is somewhat meaningless in a proportional setting w/ many parties, and that the official data can be found somewhere anywawy, but I couldn't sleep). Comparison w/ 2002 from the Telegraf site. So, up to minor miscalculations on my part it seems to be (PvDA up accross the board in this measure as well):

Groningen
PvDa leads in 22 municipalities (+9)
CDA in 2 (-6)
VVD in none (-1)
GroeneLinks in 1 (+1)
others 0 (-3)

Friesland
PvDA 16 (+9)
CDA 11 (-6)
VVD 1 (even)
others 3 (-3)

Drenthe
PvDA 9 (+4)
CDA 0 (-1)
VVD 0 (-1)
Others 3 (-2)

Overijsel
PvDA 7 (+5)
CDA 11 (-8)
Christenunie 2 (+2)
SGP 2 (even)
Others 2 (+1)

Flevoland
PvDA 2 (+1)
CDA 2 (even)
Christenunie 1 (+1)
SGP 0 (-1)
Leefbar 1 (-1)

Gelderland
PvDA 22 (+13)
PvDA/GroenL (pre-electoral alliance) 1 (even)
PvdA/D66/Groenlinks (pre-electoral alliance) 1 (+1)
PvDA/local party (pe alliance) 0 (-1)
CDA 10 (-5)
VVD 2 (-3)
Groenlinks 0 (-2)
Christenunie 1 (even)
SP 1 (even)
SGP 2 (+1)
others 6 (-4)

Utrecht
PvDA 10 (+9)
PvDA/GroenL 1 (even)
CDA 6 (-1)
VVD 2 (-5)
GroenL/local party (alliance) 1 (+1)
Christenunie 2 (+1)
Leefbar 0 (-3)
others 6 (-3)

Nord Holland
PvDA 21 (+15)
CDA 9 (-5)
VVD 12 (-2)
VVD/D66 (alliance) 0 (-1)
D66/local party (alliance) 0 (-1)
GroenL 0 (-1)
Leefbar 0 (-4)
others 16 (-1)

Zuid Holland
PvDA 29 (+17)
PvDA/D66/GroenL (alliance) 1 (+1)
CDA 13 (-3)
VVD 16 (-5)
SGP 3 (-1)
SGP/Christenunie (alliance) 4 (even)
Leefbar 0 (-5)
others 11 (-4)

Zeeland
PvDA 10 (+9)
PvDA/GroenL (alliance) 1 (+1)
CDA 1 (-6)
VVD 0 (-1)
SGP 1 (-1)
SGP/Christenunie 0 (-1)
others 0 (-1)

Nord Brabant
PvDA 14 (+14)
PvDA/GroenL 1 (+1)
PvDA/D66/GroenL 1 (+1)
CDA 23 (-2)
VVD 2 (-1)
SP 4 (+1)
SGP 1 (even)
Leefbar 0 (-1)
others 22 (-13)

Limburg
PvDA 4 (+4)
PvDA/D66 (alliance) 1 (+1)
PvDA/local party (alliance) 1 (+1)
CDA 14 (-9)
VVD 0 (-2)
D66 1 (+1)
SP 2 (+2)
Leefbar 1 (even)
others 12 (+2)

[Democratic Hawk]

When's the Netherlands next general election?

Dave

[Bono]

Interesting to see that the two parties from the Calvinist Bible Belt increased their votes.

[Angel of Death]

When's the Netherlands next general election?

May 16, 2007, after which it's almost certain the Bush/Blair clique can say goodbye to another political "ally".

[YoMartin]

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So what makes CDA a "christian" party in that case? (or what makes those MPs muslim and hindu if they belong to a christian party?). Well, I guess religious people are generally similar regardless of which one they believe in.

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You know, ag, even for this forum that´s just too much of an obsession with elections...

[ag]

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You know, ag, even for this forum that´s just too much of an obsession with elections...

Hey, I am trying to arrange spending the next academic year in Belgium (long-live the academic sabbatical tradition!), so I should be getting more familiar with the regional politics, shouldn't I In truth, of course, am no different from any other statistics-obsessed sports fan, except that elections are the only sport I care about.

Tomorrow there are regional/municipal elections in a bunch of Russian states, and the legislative/municipal elections in Mexico State. Stay tuned.

[freek]

So what makes CDA a "christian" party in that case? (or what makes those MPs muslim and hindu if they belong to a christian party?). Well, I guess religious people are generally similar regardless of which one they believe in.

Exactly.

CDA bases its political views loosely on the Bible. Seeing man as caretaker of Earth, help the people that need it, that sort of stuff. They accept people from other religions (atheist, Hindu, Muslim, ...) as members if they declare that they will respect the party's Christian views. The CDA Muslim and Hindu MPs are members of ethnic minorities, Turkish and Surinamese-Hindustan.

[freek]

Interesting to see that the two parties from the Calvinist Bible Belt increased their votes.

Especially the number of votes for the ChristenUnie increased quite a lot, and mostly in municipalities outside the Bible Belt. Most of the new CU-voters voted CDA 4 years ago, and are disappointed in the national government.

ChristenUnie is slightly more left wing than CDA in social issues, more conservative in moral issues, and eurosceptic. Their national leader Rouvoet is quite popular. He is seen as someone with similar ideas as Balkenende, but with charisma.

Because of its fundamentalist ideas, SGP is not really an alternative for most CDA voters.