While war rages, we can vote in freedom. In the run-up to the municipal elections, this increasingly became the mantra. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, it said, shows that freedom cannot be taken for granted. That right to vote is a privilege that should be cherished and celebrated. However, the hope that the war there would lead to more civic sense here did not materialize.
Turnout in municipal elections has been declining for years. In 2018, 54.9 percent of voters still bothered to vote. On Wednesday, that dropped further to 50.9 percent. This has made it an election that no party can be proud of. When almost half of voters don’t show up, that’s alarming. Especially because the municipality is regarded by administrators as the democratic layer closest to the citizen. Moreover, the fragmentation seems to be continuing in a large number of municipal councils. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can complicate formations, especially now that major challenges are on the table, such as the energy transition, the shortage of housing or the reception of Ukrainian refugees.
The paradox is that trust in local government is higher than in other institutions, as revealed in a poll by I&O Research last week. In previous municipal elections, it was precisely those who felt strongly connected to their village, city or municipality who voted. Is the corona time, in which councilors had less time to fulfill their representative role, to blame for the electoral apathy? Is it because their role has gradually diminished, among other things due to mandatory regional cooperation? The Minister of the Interior has rightly announced an investigation.
There are also bright spots. Forum for Democracy, the last national party that still stands up for Vladimir Putin, the party that flirts with ‘tribunals’ and ensures further roughening of manners in the House of Representatives, did not come close to the success of three years ago, when it became the largest party in the provincial elections. JA21 made little impression and the PVV also loses seats in the municipal councils. The ‘radical right’ narrative is not on the rise locally.
The coalition parties held their own. D66 will gain a handful of seats. VVD, ChristenUnie and especially CDA members lose. However, there has been no harsher punishment, despite the corona crisis and a historically long formation. GroenLinks and the PvdA did better than expected, but the real gains went to local parties. Four years ago, they received a total of over 28 percent of the vote. This time it is even 36 percent. The gains of the local parties match the steady growth they have been experiencing since the 1990s and show that local elections are ultimately really local.
The following applies to all winners: what is saying that you are the greatest worth with such a turnout? What does it mean for the support for decisions that will be taken in the next four years? It is the task of all politicians – winners and losers – to also represent the residents who did not show up. Make sure they also vote next time. A large turnout would have been a nice ‘act of resistance’, at a time when the impotence over war is strongly felt. This rise, however, says something about the impotence that is apparently also experienced when it comes to politics in one’s own neighbourhood.