Exactly two years ago, the BBB won an unexpected monster victory in the Provincial Council elections. Shortly thereafter, the coalition negotiations with middle parties VVD, GroenLinks and PvdA failed. In the meantime, the party has little in common with these parties and seems to have found a connection with extremely right-wing parties. This is the conclusion of a study by Omroep Brabant into the voting behavior of parties in the Provincial States.
To compare parties with each other, we looked at voting behavior. Of all 306 motions that have been voted on since the elections, we noted whether parties voted for or against. That way we can see which parties often agree with each other and which are not.
That yields the overview below. Choose a party and see with which other parties it votes most often. The higher the number, the more comparable the voting behavior.
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The research shows that parties in the Provincial States can roughly be divided into three blocks. First we see a block of right-wing populist parties PVV, JA21, Forum for Democracy and the BBB. The latter is somewhat remarkable, because two years ago the BBB explicitly presented itself as a party in the political center. Connection was also sought with middle parties, for example in the coalition negotiations.
According to party leader John Frenken, it is true that the BBB is ‘sharper’ in the debate in recent years and therefore cooperates more often on the right flank. “Certainly when it comes to decisions that the Provincial Executive make, which we would like to debate about. There is not always room for that. “
Second b
In recent years, the BBB has put a lot of emphasis on the first B, that of farmers, Frenken sees. Exactly for that reason, two States members switched from the BBB to Lokaal Brabant last year. The BBB often thinks the same as other right opposition parties about agriculture. For example when it comes to the, in their eyes too strict, nitrogen rules.
Frenken is planning to shift attention. “It is high time that we also looked at social themes. We want to do more for our second B [die van burgers, red.] In that area we have much more in common with the SP and the PvdA. “
He therefore wants to work more with middle parties. “We are not in principle against this coalition,” he says. “We want to think along.” He hopes that the coalition parties give the BBB room for that.
When we look at the coalition parties, we see that they are not surprising, most often vote together. They also do this most often of all parties.
GroenLinks and PvdA are the two parties that are most similar. They vote the same in 99 percent of the cases. The two left -wing parties have grown further and further towards each other in recent years. In Brabant they have been coordinating together for some time how they vote on motions.
Close to coalition
You can also count Volts to the club of VVD, GroenLinks, PvdA, SP, D66 and Lokaal Brabant. That party votes 80 to 90 percent of the time the same as parties from the coalition.
Group chairman Inge Vossen sees that too. “Idologically we could have participated in the coalition,” she says. “It is sometimes quite complicated to distinguish us. We are often just in line with each other. ” Yet she doesn’t find it annoying. “It fits our party. I’d rather be constructive than unnecessarily hard.”
Nevertheless, with one seat, according to Vossen, Volt sometimes makes the difference. For example when it comes to nuclear energy. “Proposals about that sometimes make it just thanks to our voice. Only a part of the coalition is for nuclear energy, so we then provide a majority. “
The Party for the Animals is especially the same as the other left and progressive parties.
Middle parties
Finally, a separate group of CDA, 50PLUS and ChristenUnie-SGP remains. These parties are ideologically in the middle and we cannot really count one of the other two groups. We do see that 50Plus leans slightly more than the Christian parties to the side of the coalition.
Not all parties submit the same number of motions. In the diagram below you can see how often parties submitted a motion (with). A party can come up with a proposal itself, or submit that of someone else. You can also see how many motions were adopted and how much not.
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The BBB, PVV and Party for the Animals made the most proposals or most often participated in a proposal. The VVD was relatively successful. All proposals that were the signature of this party were accepted.
So often parties voted for or against a motion:
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With two years to go until the next elections, the Provincial States still have plenty to do. At that time it could just be that the relationships between the parties shift.
