Young Dutch tend to vote left-wing; against data mining law

If only young Dutch people had voted in the municipal elections and referendum on the new Intelligence and Security Law on Wednesday, the D66 would be the largest national party of the Netherlands with 9 percent of the votes. And the no-camp would be the convincing winners of the referendum with 63 percent of the votes, according to an analysis by broadcaster NOS based on figures from Ipsos.

In the actual results the CDA is the biggest national party, closely followed by the VVD - the D66 lost a lot of ground and only got 5 percent of the votes. And the outcome for the referendum is expected to be very close, with opponents in the lead by a very small margin.

In the municipal elections young Dutch between the ages of 18 and 24 years voted 6 percent for VVD, 5 percent for CDA, 9 percent for D66, 6 percent for GroenLinks, 2 percent for PvdA, 4 percent for ChristenUnie/SGP, 2 percent for SP, 11 percent for local parties, and 5 percent for other parties. When all Dutch votes are taken into account the results are 7 percent VVD, 7 percent CDA, 5 percent D66, 5 percent GroenLinks, 4 percent PvdA, 4 percent ChristenUnie/SGP, 2 percent SP, 18 percent local parties, and 2 percent other parties.

In the referendum, 37 percent of Dutch aged 18 to 24 voted for the new Intelligence and Security Law, and 63 percent voted against. Voters between the ages of 25 and 34 voted 41 percent for and 57 percent against. The actual expected result stands at 49 percent for and 51 percent against. The final referendum results will only be announced next week.

Age also affects turnout. Half of Dutch between 18 and 24 actually went to vote in the municipal elections, compared to 56 percent of 50 to 64 year olds and even 65 percent of people over the age of 65. For the referendum only 41 percent of 18 to 24 year olds voted, and 46 percent of 25 to 34 year olds. People over the age of 65 were a lot more eager to vote in the referendum with 63 percent.