BBB was also the big winner in the water board elections, according to the final results of Thursday. BBB has conquered 23 percent of all 518 seats to be allocated: 118 seats from scratch. “The political landscape at the water boards is changing rapidly,” the Union of Water Boards said in a statement. The only party that comes close to BBB is Water Natural. This party, supported by GroenLinks, D66 and Volt, won 91 seats. Water Naturally scored 85 seats in the previous elections. Just like BBB, Water Naturally participated in almost all 21 water boards, that is to say one water board under a different name. It is now BBB’s turn to form the board in thirteen water boards, while Water Naturally is taking the lead in five water boards. The turnout this year was 53.1 percent higher than ever; four years ago it was 51.3 percent.
Big losers
Big losers at the water boards are CDA, VVD and 50Plus. The CDA is going from 60 to 35 seats; the VVD from 70 to 55 and 50Plus from 32 to 10 seats. Local parties also suffered a significant loss; their share of the boards dropped from 17 percent to 11 percent. The Party for the Animals did have a good election result and is growing from 17 to 37 seats on the water boards.
Also read the story A dispute with a water board? Then you have a big problem
As the provisional results showed last week, a two-stream country appears to be forming in the water boards. It is true that many different parties will again be represented in the water boards in the next four years, but BBB and Water Naturally are by far the largest and will mainly call the shots.
The main point of disagreement between these parties is the extent to which the interests of agriculture or nature and the fight against the climate crisis are taken into account. For example, the water level is often a point of discussion; a high water level on the land is generally favorable for nature but unfavorable for farmers during the growing season. Less controversial are the regular tasks of the water boards, such as guaranteeing sufficient and clean water, and protection against waterlogging and flooding.