The further away from the Randstad, the more strongly people feel the policy of the provinces. And in those areas, more people voted in the Provincial Council elections last March than in the rest of the country. BBB played an important role in this: of all parties, it mobilized the most people who usually stay at home during State elections. That is evident from it Provincial and Water Board voter survey that political scientists did around the elections for the Provincial Council and the water boards in March. Nearly three thousand citizens were interviewed for this purpose.
Is it necessary to come up with a study on the March Provincial Council elections at the end of December, a month after the House of Representatives elections, the results of which reverberated far beyond the Netherlands? No, says Hans Vollaard, the Leiden political scientist who, together with colleagues, studied the voting behavior of Dutch people. “It is and remains important for the unknown provinces and water boards to work on their democracy.”
The researchers saw, among other things, that in ‘border provinces’ such as Zeeland, Friesland and Limburg, involvement in and knowledge about provincial politics was greater than in urban areas. Understandable, says Vollaard. “In rural areas you come into contact with the province more often, for example because of public transport. And there is often a greater need to distinguish yourself from the Randstad. That feeling of connection is missing in the big cities.”
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Deeper problem
And yet there are also plenty of things that the provincial government and water boards have to deal with in the cities, he says. “They just realize it less in the cities.” Flooded streets and heat stress, for example, “you also notice that in Amsterdam, Eindhoven or Rotterdam,” says Vollaard.
Therein also lies a deeper problem that Vollaard and his colleagues saw. It is, he says, “very good that the elections for the States and the water boards have taken place.” This gives citizens the opportunity to make clear what they find important. “How taxes should be distributed, what the relationship between nature and agriculture should be, how public transport should be arranged in rural areas.”
But, and that is a very big but: “Voters have little or no knowledge of what the most important issues are and who is on the board.” So, to put it mildly, there is “quite a bit of work to be done to properly organize these elections.”
The researchers saw that themes that were considered important by national politics also dominated in these provincial elections. The luck of this election was that the themes were very similar to the topics that provinces are about. “What voters think and what their parties think was now reasonably consistent,” says Vollaard. For example, he mentions the nitrogen policy, but also the attention to rural areas. “If those national themes had been different, the question would have been to what extent those provincial and water board themes would have come into focus.”
National cabinet settlement
BBB benefited from this attention to issues that occurred in rural areas, but also attracted urban voters who had little interest in the incumbent government parties. She also mobilized dissatisfied voters who often do not vote during elections. The party became the largest in all provinces, and it also co-governs in ten of the twelve. But do her voters also keep an eye on what happens to their votes? The researchers also concluded that voters actually only pay the national cabinet in provincial elections, not the provincial government. Part of the supporters will certainly follow this, Vollaard expects: “Farmers will notice immediately if they do or do not receive a permit from the province. And residents notice it when there is suddenly one less bus driving through the village.”
But ‘responsiveness’, or how people respond to what is raised by voters, could be improved, according to Vollaard: “If you want to make something of provincial and water board democracy, then as representatives you will also have to collect information more visibly from residents and then provide it back.” need to connect. So not: you say and we do it. But: what is needed in your area? And then let us know what was done with that input.”
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