In Drenthe, voters will not see a BBB list on the ballot paper next year. The party, known for its focus on farmers and the countryside, is not participating in the municipal elections in March in any Drenthe municipality. This is striking for a province with a strong agricultural support base.
Nationally, the BBB participates in 29 municipalities. Friesland leads the list with eight participating municipalities, while no candidates have been submitted in South Holland, Flevoland and Drenthe. Also notable is Amsterdam, where the party is on the list, ANP reports. Earlier this year, the party wanted to participate in 34 municipalities, but this was not possible in five of those municipalities.
Although the BBB is represented in the Drenthe Provincial Council with two deputies and 17 members of Parliament, the party remains absent at municipal level. For voters, this means that they will have to vote for other parties in March.
According to the party management, there are two conditions for a party to participate in a municipality: there must be seven good candidates, and the party must have obtained seven percent of the votes in the Provincial Council elections in 2023.
Only in Amsterdam did the party not achieve the desired seven percent in the Provincial Council elections. In those elections, the BBB received 19 percent of all votes and was the largest party.