Distrust in politics behind historically low election turnout: poll

Distrust in politics is why the municipal election had a historically low turnout, according to the EenVandaag opinion panel. That political distrust was also behind the high support for local parties.

Aversion to politics caused a record low voter turnout of 50.9 percent and resulted in local parties getting well over a third of votes - also a record, EenVandaag concluded after polling 15,000 members of its Opinion Panel on Thursday. Of those who didn't vote, 55 percent said it was because they distrust politics. The second biggest reason was "no trust in local politics" at 34 percent, followed by the feeling that their vote has no influence at 18 percent.

Only 5 percent cited the war in Ukraine as a reason not to vote. Simon Otjes, a political scientist at Leiden University, previously suspected that the war played a significant role in the low turnout. According to him, the attention to the war probably made many voters feel that the elections for a new city council were less important.

Of the people who did go to the polls, a third voted for a local party. 48 percent of these voters indicated that they feel local parties are specifically there to tackle problems in their own municipality. This concerns practical, local matters like the construction of windmills or the preservation of regional language or culture. 30 percent of respondents said they prefer the pragmatic attitude of a local party to a national party that should "color within ideological lines," according to the panelists. A third said they voted locally in protest against national politics. 15 percent voted for someone they know in a local party.

On Thursday, various parliamentary factions also blamed the historically low turnout on national politics. Derk Boswijk, campaign manager of the CDA, stated that "we did not show our best side last year." His party, the PvdA, SGP, and PvdD believe that politicians should take a good look at themselves. "The low turnout is an assignment for all politicians to act with integrity and to live up to the trust placed in us," said PvdA MP Khadija Arib.