Tilburg had the lowest turnout in the Netherlands in the 2018 municipal elections. Young people in particular have failed in the city. The city council is therefore doing everything it can to attract more young people to the polls. Social media campaigns, fun videos, a pub crawl with local politicians and even a ‘lecture’ from the mayor.
Mayor Theo Weterings, together with the Tilburg rapper TO, has started a campaign to get young people to vote. In youth center WAYNG on the Ringbaan-Oost, ‘TO and Theo’ visited the Tilburg youth. It was not only about how the elections work, but also how young people can be better reached.
Bart: “Actually, a bit of advice from my parents was based on the voting advice or whether they started voting. Only now I will definitely vote and hope to convince them to do the same. The municipal elections are really about my city, it is much closer than the elections to the House of Representatives. That is why I really think that young people should vote. Only local political parties should become much more active on social media such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat.”
Justin: “I didn’t have much with the elections, I wasn’t involved in politics. In the national elections it feels like my vote doesn’t matter anyway. Only because of this meeting I think the local is different. trending on social media, then there is also a greater chance that we as young people will talk about it among ourselves and thus vote. Important themes for me are the housing market, but also meeting places for young people and centers such as WAYNG where we can discover our talents.”
Nina: “I now see that by voting you really contribute to your city and if you don’t vote, you can’t complain either. I notice that young people are quite lazy. We really don’t go because of a flyer or poster in the city look for what a political party stands for. Politicians should come to us, for example to schools and youth centers. Where young people are real. Politics is quickly found to be boring and maybe it is, but it is about the future of the city we live in.”
Yahya: “I come from Palestine and have just acquired the Dutch nationality, so I will definitely vote now that I am allowed. I did not know exactly what the municipality is about, but they do determine what type of housing will be in the city. important to me, because young people can do nothing but pay for social housing now and there are too few of them, local politics is still too little involved in this and there is a lack of awareness that young people no longer have a free choice to live where they want. If we want to change that, young people should vote and I will definitely encourage my friends to do the same.”
Nicky: “I wasn’t going to vote, but I’ll come back to that now. If everyone thinks politics is boring don’t vote, how do the politicians know which way to go? Although I do think there are more young people in politics with which we can identify. Housing is an important theme for me, but also meeting places for young people. We have not seen each other for two years because of corona. Nothing was possible and that has made our world smaller. With good meeting places or centers where we can discover ourselves, we make up for that damage.”