Election day! Dutch Municipal Election 2018

Today,the 2018 municipal council elections will be organized in 335 of the 380 municipalities in the Netherlands[1]. The voting already started at midnight, with a few polling stations being open overnight, including a polling station in a student bar in Zwolle where Mayor Meijer took the opportunity to cast his vote around around midnight[2]. This is illustrative of the Dutch practice of setting up polling stations in unconventional locations.

Following the 2014 municipal elections, only 28.3% of elected representatives in municipal councils were women[3]. Gender Concerns International hopes that the Dutch people will elect more women to the municipal councils this time. We look forward to the results being announced tonight.

Foto LEX VAN LIESHOUT/ANP

[1] https://vng.nl/files/vng/publicaties/2018/information_sheet_-_local_elections_in_the_netherlands_final_version_-_8-3-2018.pdf

[2] https://nos.nl/artikel/2223568-eerste-stemmen-uitgebracht-bij-nachtelijke-stembureaus.html

[3] Final Report: Gender Election Observation Mission, the Netherlands 2017, page 16. Available at: http://www.genderconcerns.org/pdfs/Final%20Report%20GEOM%20Netherlands%202017%20-%20digital%20version.pdf