Voters turning to locally-focused parties in council elections: Poll

More voters plan to vote for a local party in the upcoming municipal elections than did in 2014, according to a poll by Maurice de Hond. In the previous municipal elections 27 percent of voters voted local, now 30 percent say they plan to vote for a local party on March 21st.

This is especially striking because more national parties are participating in more municipalities this year.

Especially people who voted VVD, D66 or PvdA in the parliamentary election last year now plan to vote for a local party. These three parties therefore seem to be heading for a loss in the municipalities. GroenLinks and SP on the other hand are showing a profit in this poll, and not only because they are participating in more municipalities.

This municipal election the PVV is participating in 30 municipalities, compared to 2 in the previous one. The party will therefore definitely receive more votes in this election, but Maurice de Hond believes that Geert Wilders' party will perform less well than it did in the parliamentary election. The PVV's participation in the municipal elections will cost local parties around 2 percent of votes, but that will be compensated for by more people deciding to vote for local parties.