Many voters for new-right wing coalition did not vote in European elections

A large proportion of people who voted for the PVV, VVD, BBB, or NSC in last year’s parliamentary elections did not go to the polls for the European Parliament elections on Thursday, according to research by Ipsos I&O for NOS. NSC voters, in particular, stayed home.

More than half, 59 percent, of NSC voters did not go to the polling station yesterday. Only 13 percent voted for the NSC again. Seven percent switched to the CDA. According to the exit poll, the NSC secured one of the 31 seats allocated to the Netherlands. Mathematically, it means NSC has now lost two-thirds of its voters compared to the parliamentary elections.

The NSC will have to “speak to our voters,” party leader Pieter Omtzigt said in response to the exit poll. He thinks his party’s cooperation with far-right PVV in the new coalition "may also be a reason" far fewer people voted for NSC in the European elections than in the parliamentary elections in November.

The PVV also saw less than half of its voters turn up for the European Parliament elections. 56 percent of PVV voters did not vote. “Nevertheless, unlike in 2019, the PVV has managed to mobilize their voters to vote. In 2019, 68 percent of PVV voters stayed at home, now, 44 percent of them went to the polls,” Ipsos I&O researcher Sjoerd van Heck said.

Geert Wilders’ far-right party also gained a lot of ground in this election, going from one to seven seats in the European Parliament, according to the exit poll. At this stage, the PVV is not projected to be the largest party as it is in the Tweede Kamer. GroenLinks-PvdA is slightly ahead with eight projected seats.

The VVD and BBB also had disappointing turnouts, with 47 and 44 percent of their voters, respectively, not using their right to vote yesterday.

There also seems to be some dissident within the VVD about the party’s cooperation with the PVV. In its European political group, Renew, the VVD faced enormous criticism for this. Group leader Valérie Hayer recently spoke out about this in sharp terms and even threatened to expel the VVD from Renew. These comments have cost the VVD seats, speculated current MEP Bart Groothuis, who held the second spot on the VVD's list.

VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz didn’t even speak to voters after the exit poll on Thursday, instead posting a non-commentative statement on X, formerly Twitter. “Thank you for your vote! We had a very nice evening in Rotterdam and will work hard for you again tomorrow morning! Everywhere in the Netherlands and Europe!”

The pro-European parties managed to attract many voters to the polls. Only 22 percent of GroenLinks-PvdA voters didn’t vote, the lowest percentage of all parties after the ChristenUnie. Frans Timmermans’ party did lose some votes to Volt (5 percent) and PvdD (3 percent). “But the majority of voters have remained loyal to GroenLinks-PvdA. In the setting of low turnout, this quickly leads to a good result,” said researcher Heck. 64 percent voted again for GroenLinks-PvdA.

D66 had 31 voters stay at home, and Volt had 23 percent. The CDA, one of the big losers in last year’s parliamentary election, did pretty well. Only 29 percent of CDA voters didn’t vote, and 62 percent voted for the Christian Democrats again.