Latest poll has Democrats, Greens neck-on-neck in Amsterdam
With just a week to go until the municipal elections, both the D66 and GroenLinks have a solid chance to become the biggest party in Amsterdam. Both parties currently stand at 17 percent of Amsterdam votes - good for 9 seats in the city council, according to a poll by Maurice de Hond of Peil.nl, Het Parool reports.
Nine seats is an increase of three seats for GroenLinks, and a loss of 5 seats for the D66.The party that comes out the biggest after the municipal election on March 21st can take the lead in forming a new coalition.
During election debate Leve Amsterdam in De Balie over the weekend, GroenLinks leader in Amsterdam Rutger Groot Wassink said that he would look to left-wing parties in forming a coalition. "I look to the left; D66 is not progressive, but simply a right-wing party", he said. Amsterdam's left-wing parties - GroenLinks, PvdA, SP, PvdD, Bij1 and ChristenUnie - combined will have a narrow majority in the city council, according to De Hond's poll.
D66 front man Reinier van Dantzig in his turn will look to the PvdA, VVD and GroenLinks for a coalition. "Otherwise it is difficult to get a large majority." And such a coalition can count on a large majority in the latest poll.
Groot Wassink and Van Dantzig are aiming these statements at strategic voters, according to the newspaper. A strategic PvdA voter, for example, could instead vote for GroenLinks to prevent the D66 from becoming the biggest party.
De Hond's poll has the SP as the third largest party in Amsterdam with 11 percent of the votes, followed by the PvdA with 10 percent. Both good for 5 council seats. The VVD dropped from 6 to 4 seats, putting the liberals on the same number of seats as populist party FvD.
In addition to the FvD, four other new comers also have a chance of entering the Amsterdam city council. De Hond's poll as Bij1, ChristenUnie, and 50Plus each on 1 seat, and DENK at 3 seats. The CDA may retain its one seat, and animal party PvdD can double its seats from 1 to 2.