Dutch municipalities call fraudulent election claims ‘a threat to the rule of law’

The Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) called “recent statements” criticizing the election process “a threat to the democratic rule of law,” the organization said in a brief statement.

The VNG described the allegations as biased and unfounded. They “lack any form of evidence and therefore pose a direct threat to the democratic rule of law,” the organization said.

Earlier this week, PVV leader Geert Wilders took to social media to claim that the national elections were not legitimate. Wilders shared screenshots of several messages he said his party received, though he provided no source for the material.

VNG chair Sharon Dijksma did not explicitly state that the organization’s declaration was a response to Wilders’ posts or actions.

“The election process in municipalities is conducted with the utmost care and transparency. Our staff and the many volunteers work extremely hard to ensure everything proceeds transparently, carefully, and properly,” Dijksma said on behalf of the municipalities.

“Undermining the integrity of mayors without factual grounds harms not only their position, but also citizens’ trust in our democratic institutions,” she added.

On Thursday, the Electoral Council (Kiesraad) also responded to Wilders’ claims, rejecting the allegation that the security of the election software had been examined by a company owned by a confidant of the D66 party.

“The current version of the Ondersteunende Software Verkiezingen was pentested by Fox-IT,” the council said in a post on X. “And not by HackDefense B.V., which has ties to D66, as Wilders claimed.” A pentest — short for penetration test — is an authorized security review in which ethical hackers attempt to breach systems the same way malicious hackers would, to detect and strengthen weaknesses.

Wilders also shared posts about alleged irregularities with ballot papers in Maastricht, Leiden, and Zaanstad. A spokesperson for Zaanstad called the reports “utter nonsense.”

The Kiesraad said it was unaware of any errors in Maastricht, Leiden, or Zaanstad.