After Bosland, Jan Paternotte, number two on the D66 list, was able to cast his vote. Paternotte had come to Castricum from his hometown of Leiderdorp during the night to, as he said, “experience this party of democracy.”
He was disappointed that he was not the first again; in the previous elections, Paternotte was the third voter. But the favorable opinion polls for his party still made the night good.
The first voter Bosland had also come especially to the night polling station to emphasize that voting is important: “Everyone who can vote must also come and vote.”
Waiting for hours to vote
The popularity of night-time voting is increasing rapidly. Opening the polls at midnight became popular after former Castricum mayor Toon Mans came up with this as a stunt about 16 years ago. This time too, there were long lines in front of the nightly polling box in Castricum. The first voters had been waiting for almost three hours to vote.
The polling station in Castricum is one of almost 10,000 polling stations that are open today.
Prognosis results shortly after 9 p.m
The regular polling stations are open from 7:30 am. All polling stations must close at 9 p.m. (as required by law). A first forecast of the results follows a few seconds after the polls close.
Today, approximately 13.4 million Dutch people can vote for the House of Representatives. These elections are less than two years after the previous elections; an early trip to the polls was necessary after the fall of the Schoof cabinet.
Final debate flaming here and there, but without a clear winner
The 13.4 million people who are allowed to vote are people who are 18 years or older and have Dutch nationality. This group of voters represents 91 percent of adults living in the Netherlands. The other adults are foreigners living in the Netherlands. This has been noticeable (for a long time) in the town of Vaals, where only two-thirds of adults are allowed to vote; a third of the population consists of people with a foreign passport, mainly from Belgium and Germany.
‘Gray’ wave 28% of voters
The group of ‘grey’ voters is gradually growing larger. In today’s elections, according to Statistics Netherlands, 28 percent of those eligible to vote are 65 years or older. This makes the elderly a larger group than the young people, because the group of 18 to 35 year olds is a quarter of those entitled to vote.
It is not certain how many people who are allowed to vote actually go to the polls. Normally the percentage of people who vote in the elections for the House of Representatives is around 80 percent. In the previous elections, at the end of November 2023, the turnout was 77.7 percent.