National voter turnout at 37%, Voting in major cities better than in 2019

By the end of the afternoon, an estimated 37 percent of those entitled to vote had cast a ballot in the 2023 Provincial Council elections. That is slightly more than the election four years ago. More people have also cast a ballot in most major cities compared to 2019.

In 2019, about 33 percent of eligible voters had cast a ballot by the end of the afternoon, which improved to 37 percent on Wednesday, according to a study by Ipsos commissioned by NOS. The total turnout in the previous Provincial Council elections in 2019 was 56 percent.

So far, more people in the major cities have also voted compared to four years ago. In Amsterdam, the turnout was 34.6 percent at 6 p.m. In 2019, 24.5 percent of the capital's residents had voted up to roughly the same time.

In Rotterdam, the turnout at around 6 p.m. was almost 32 percent, compared to 30.7 percent in 2019. In The Hague, 37.5 percent voted by the end of the afternoon, versus 34.5 percent four years ago. Data from Utrecht was not available due to a technical malfunction.

In Eindhoven, the tally stood at 39.2 percent at around 6 p.m., in Groningen at 46.4 percent and in Nijmegen at 45.1 percent. Smaller municipalities also reported higher turnout than in 2019.

People can vote until 9 p.m. Nearly 13.3 million people are eligible to vote in these provincial elections, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS).