Election Day: 8,800 polling stations are ready to receive voters

Election Day: 8,800 polling stations ready to receive voters

After a campaign that was pale due to the war in Ukraine, the Netherlands will go to the polls for the municipal elections today. It was also possible to vote in about 1,700 polling stations on Monday and Tuesday, but most voters are expected to vote this Wednesday.

A total of 13.6 million people are allowed to vote and about 8,800 polling stations are open today, spread over 334 municipalities. Most of them are open between 7:30 AM and 9:00 PM, but some are open earlier. In Castricum, for example, a polling station opened at midnight in the Garden of Captain Rommel. It was not immediately stormy there, because after an hour and a half, according to the ANP news agency, only twelve voters had passed by.

According to the final poll by I&O Research the total turnout will be slightly lower than in the previous municipal elections in 2018. The turnout was 55 percent. About one in three voters will choose a local party and the CDA will lose again, according to the poll held between 4 and 7 March.

Mouth caps are not mandatory in the polling stations and there is no need to keep one and a half meters away. But municipalities have set up the polling stations in such a way that it is possible to keep sufficient distance from each other.

Welcome to this blog

Today residents of most Dutch municipalities are allowed to go to the polls for the municipal elections – although polling stations were already open on Monday and Tuesday. At 9 p.m. the polls close and the votes are counted. In this blog beats NRC the most important election news.