Parties demand recount in at least four municipalities

Parties in at least Maastricht, Venray, Beek, and Zeewolde demanded that the votes in the municipal elections on Wednesday be recounted, NU.nl reports.

In principle, votes are only recounted if mistakes were made or there is evidence of fraud. In all four these cases, parties want the votes recounted over the division of city council seats - the difference between two parties in each municipality is so minimal that an extra vote or two could mean an extra seat.

In Maastricht, the D66 is two votes short of an extra seat.

In Beek BBB-NDB and Progessief Beek both claim they are entitled to one remaining seat.

In Zeewolde the party Burger Belang is fighting for a seat, or the party will disappear from the municipal council. If Burger Belang does not get the seat, it will go to the D66.

In Venray the parties CDA and Venray Lokaal received exactly the same number of votes. The law states that in this exceptional case, the seat must be awarded in a random draw between the two parties. But both parties would rather have a recount to do justice to the democratic process, according to the newspaper.

The central polling stations in the four municipalities will decide whether or not to recount the votes on Friday.