“I love you, my own country ten, my olde Drenthelaand. I am hollow of simplicity in beauty, I have broken my heart!” These are the first lines of the famous Drenthe song. It fits reasonably well with the Drent. Research by Kieskompas shows that about 6 out of 10 Drenthes really feel like a Drent.
The sentence ‘mien eig’n laandtien’ can also stand for the Netherlands in itself. Because another 8 out of 10 Drenthe says they feel Dutch.
Yet the Drents are not as proud of their own province as our northern neighbors or the southerners in the country. Groningers, Zeelanders, Limburgers and Brabanders say they feel more like a Groninger, Zeeuwer, Limburger or Brabander.
The provincial elections are coming up. Lots of differing opinions on that. A short summary: Drenthe thinks the Provincial Council elections are important, but a majority has no confidence in Drenthe politics and yet the provincial government is the only one who gets a pass.
About three-quarters of the participants from Drenthe in the Kieskompas survey say they consider the upcoming election important. The themes of affordability of living, energy poverty, health care, nature/climate and asylum/immigration in particular are of paramount importance to the Drent.
At the same time, about two-thirds say they do not or hardly trust Drenthe’s politics. This is different in the local government, where half of the inhabitants of the province indicate that they have confidence in it. Confidence in national politics in Drenthe is on the low side at a quarter, compared to the other provinces.
(Text continues below the photo)