Nearly half of BBB votes came from city voters

Almost half of the farmers’ movement BBB’s votes in the Provincial Council elections came from people voting in the cities, NRC reports based on its analysis of results per polling station collected by the Political Academy Foundation. No less than 48 percent of BBB votes were cast in moderately to highly urban areas.

For example, BBB got almost a third of the votes at the polling stations De Goosenmaat community center in Almelo and the Wijk- en Speeltuinvereniging De Zwlseqwijk in Deventer. Both are strongly urban neighborhoods in strongly urban municipalities. The farmers' movement also did well in urban polling stations in Hoogeveen, Haaksbergen, and Boxtel.

The BBB also got many votes in other urban municipalities, but then from non-urban neighborhoods. In five of the 21 polling stations in the moderately urban Venray, more than half of the votes went to BBB, for example. But all five of those polling stations were in non-urban neighborhoods.

“This is what you get when confidence drops,” political analyst Joost Smits of the Political Academy Foundation told NRC. “There is always reference to nitrogen, but this is about much more than the nitrogen problem. People think politicians are incompetent. They have to deal with high energy prices, the benefits scandal, or cannot find a home. Mistrust of government and politics, along with big issues like these - that’s what motivates voters. Also, in the city.”

This was the BBB’s first provincial election, so the only results it can be compared to are the parliamentary elections of 2021. Compared to those elections, the BBB’s constituency increased most in urban areas, Smits said. Of all votes cast for the BBB, the share from urban areas was twice as large as in 2021.

That was even three times higher in very strongly urban areas - Amsterdam city center, Vlaardingen, Zoetermeer. “The party did not do well in the cities in 2021, so there was room for growth there,” Smits explained. “And Caroline van der Plas has a clear story. Moreover, BBB wants to participate in the governments, and there is little fuss around the party.”