More than thirty percent of Limburgers will vote for a local party in the upcoming municipal elections. This is the conclusion of research by Flycatcher commissioned by L1.
Limburg follows with this the national trendwith local parties growing strongly in recent decades.
Middle parties
According to professor of Dutch politics Joop van den Berg, this growth is mainly due to the disappearance of the large Dutch middle parties such as PvdA, CDA and slightly less VVD. “That’s where it started. Those large old popular parties have lost a lot of support and importance. Then a large space is created that is increasingly filled by local parties. That is not by definition unfavorable.”
Central Limburg
In Flycatcher’s research, the popularity of the local parties in Central Limburg is particularly striking. The survey among 500 respondents showed that 62 percent of Central Limburgers want to vote for a local party. This corresponds to the trend from 2018. Four years ago, the elections in Weert, Roermond and Sittard-Geleen were won by the local parties Weert Lokaal, LVR and GOB.
Also read: Local parties big winners in municipal elections
customization
According to Nancy Kaufmann, leader of the local City Party in Sittard-Geleen, the local parties can provide much better customization in the municipality. “We are not held hostage by a national guideline or by ideology. We can just see what is best for the city and then provide tailor-made solutions.” Kaufmann sees the lack of a political network in the Province or The Hague as less of a problem. She does, however, point out the difference in compensation. “The national parties receive a subsidy. We have to pay for it ourselves as a party. Then you are talking about 20,000 to 30,000 euros in these elections. We had a folder distributed, which was quite expensive.”
fragmentation
Professor Joop van den Berg warns against further fragmentation of the city council. “The local party is becoming more important, for understandable reasons. But there are also many more of them. This results in a fragmentation with many small parties. And that does not benefit the power of the city council.”
Floating voters
Flycatcher’s research showed that 28 percent of Limburg voters do not yet know what they are going to vote for. Among those floating voters, twice as many women (38.2 percent) than men (20.5 percent).
Read also: This is happening in your municipality during the Municipal elections