Voter in Groningen is looking for extremes. BoerBurgerBeweging and Party for the Animals win

In Groningen, too, voters are looking for extremes. With BBB and the Party for the Animals, the biggest winners are also the biggest opposites. The established order is being hit and the left is bouncing slightly.

That seemed to be the most important trend in the Groninger States elections on Wednesday evening around midnight. Exactly how the seats will be distributed will only become clear in the course of the night when all the votes have been counted, but one conclusion also seems inevitable in Groningen: debutant BBB is the biggest in one fell swoop.

Turnout peaks at 77 percent, up from 56 percent four years ago

Counting votes took more time this time than in the previous parliamentary elections. This was due to the fact that turnout at the Groningen polling stations was much higher on Wednesday than four years ago. Then it was 56 percent, now even Pekela, which is usually not very vocal, has peaked at 77 percent.

The slowly trickling in results meant that a provisional result could only be announced in the course of Thursday. Around 2 o’clock only four of the ten municipalities had finished their count, including City. That was more than half of the vote.

Oldambt was the first to finish counting at midnight. There, the BBB was by far the largest, with no less than 32.5 percent of the vote, only followed at a great distance by the PvdA, which fell almost 4 percent to 9.3 percent, and the PVV, which limited the loss and ended at 7. 7 percent (-1.8 percent).

After that it was almost an hour before Stadskanaal reported as second. There, too, BBB came out as the largest by far, with 32.6 percent of the vote. The ChristenUnie of deputy and former Stadskanaalster alderman followed with 12.8 percent (-4 percent) and the PVV, with 7.6 percent (-1.8 percent).

‘Even’ in City BBB finishes third; GroenLinks and PvdA limit damage

After the BBB also achieved an even bigger victory in Westerwolde, with almost 40 percent of the vote, the municipality of Groningen followed just before 2 a.m., accounting for almost half of all voters in the province. GroenLinks remains the largest party there, although it fell 4.5 percent to 16.1 percent, for the PvdA that made a minimal loss (0.7 percent) and ended at 11.9 percent.

The BBB ‘even’ ends up as the third party in the city, with 10.7 percent of the vote. The Party for Animals also did well, with almost 8 percent of the vote, making a 2 percent gain. Volt is also striking, which shoots to 7.7 percent in one fell swoop. Another newcomer JA21 with almost 2 percent of the vote. The SP lost ground and remains just under 6 percent (-1.7).

Only after a series of resounding profit figures do the BBB employees dare to cheer

Only when one after the other thunderous profit figure for BBB from other provinces rolled in on television at the NOS, did the Groningen party members of BBB leader Caroline van der Plas really dare to cheer. Although there was no doubt for Groningen party leader Gouke Moes that it would turn out to be a victory.

“I already warned my fellow party leaders at the start of the election campaign: We will be the biggest. There was a bit of laughter about that back then. But for me it’s not a question of whether we’ll be the biggest, but by how much difference. In that sense it’s exciting, but I’m not nervous.”

The resounding victory of the BBB completely upset the political landscape in Groningen. The coalition of six parties that has ruled the province for the past four years will almost certainly lose its majority and cannot continue in its current composition. The PvdA seems to benefit from the alliance with GroenLinks with a slight gain in votes, but that in turn lost ground. This is even more true for council partners D66, VVD and especially the CDA.

‘We certainly don’t exclude anyone in advance’

On the other side of the political spectrum, the Party for the Animals also seems to be heading for profit, albeit considerably more modestly than BBB. That doesn’t make it any easier to forge a new college. As the largest party, BBB can now take the lead in the formation of a new board.

It will be quite a job to reconcile the party’s nitrogen position with that of PvdA, GroenLinks or D66. And with only VVD and CDA being a bit more ‘flexible’ about the nitrogen targets, Moes and co do not get a majority.

The BBB captain is optimistic. In a double interview with D66 colleague Sander Claassen in Newspaper of the North both list leaders saw opportunities to bridge the gap last week.

Moes immediately made the first appointments for talks with his fellow party leaders on Wednesday night. “Do we go left or right? We don’t think in such terms,” says Moes. “We are not ruling anyone out in advance. We will see.”

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