GroenLinks, PvdA to continue left-wing teamup in municipal elections

PvdA and GroenLinks will participate together in the municipal elections in March 2026 in 80 percent of the municipalities, PvdA chairman Esther-Mirjam Sent announced. These factions are following the national line and seem to bring an official merger of the two left-wing parties another step closer, NOS reports.

According to Sent, many factions have already decided to submit a joint candidate list for the municipal elections. All factions must make their decision by January 1. Sent is pleased with the enthusiasm. “I really did not think that was possible when we started this. I conclude from this that there is a great deal of enthusiasm for the left-wing collaboration.”

Factions in some municipalities have decided to participate in the municipal elections on their own, mostly because they do not expect any benefits from a team-up. That is the case in Heerenveen, among others. Others, like those in Amsterdam, plan to participate in the election separately but work together in the city council afterward.

There are also some concerns about the growing cooperation, particularly in the PvdA, according to NOS. Some labor party veterans fear that the social democratic movement will be diluted by the cooperation with the greens and that the combined party will only be interesting for highly educated progressives, and not for people with a modest income and education.

Sent disagrees. “Of course, there are concerns, but as the left, we are also good at talking ourselves into a hole,” she told NOS. “We had hoped for a better result in the parliamentary election last year, but we are the largest opposition party [with 25 seats in parliament]. And the membership growth is enormous. The administration cannot handle it. We now have almost 100,000 members together. And that motivates us tremendously to continue with this.”