Amsterdam petition to elect own mayor signed over 1,200 times

A petition calling for Amsterdam residents to be able to elect their own mayor, received more than the required 1,200 signatures to be put on the city council's agenda. So far 1,230 people signed the petition, which was launched by Amsterdam movement Meer Democratie, the Telegraaf reports.

The movement wants the candidates for the next mayor to be announced, so that the city's residents can vote for who they think should succeed Mayor Eberhard van der Laan. "The mayor is the highest political function in the city and it is too crazy for words that citizens have no say in who it should be", spokesperson and former PvdA parliamentarian Niesco Dubbelboer said, according to the newspaper.

Van der Laan lost his battle against cancer and passed away in October last year. Jozias van Aartsen is currently the acting mayor in Amsterdam.