Five people barred from voting in the Netherlands; Down from 25 in 2019

There are five people in the Netherlands who have had their right to vote revoked by a court, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Back in 2016, the number was 56, and by 2019 it had fallen to 25. Anyone who loses this right is barred from both voting and standing for election.

The Electoral Council states that if a court sentences someone to at least one year in prison, the right to vote can be revoked as an additional punishment. This is only allowed in certain cases related to terrorism or election offenses, such as deliberately using a forged voting pass. The loss of voting rights lasts as long as the original prison sentence, meaning it is not automatically a lifelong ban.

The authorities did not reveal why the five current Dutch citizens have lost their voting rights. The decline in the number of people barred from voting reflects historical circumstances and evolving laws.

According to the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, special tribunals were set up after World War II to prosecute former NSB members (the Dutch National Socialist Movement) and other collaborators. Part of the punishment included the revocation of voting rights, which was reportedly imposed on tens of thousands of people.

In 1983, the Dutch constitution was amended, and since then, many more conditions apply for revoking someone’s voting rights. Prior to this change, anyone sentenced to more than a year in prison automatically lost their right to vote. As a result, a large number of prisoners were not allowed to vote or stand for election.