Dutch voters streaming in to ballot boxes after work, bringing turnout up to 50 percent
Turnout in the 2023 Dutch General Election reached 50 percent by 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, survey organization Ipsos told NOS. That compares to 55 percent at the same time during the 2017 election. Wednesday's vote will determine the composition of the 150-seat Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament. The parties will then negotiate with each other to get a majority and form a new Cabinet.
The national voter turnout at 3:45 p.m. approached 40 percent, and was 28 percent at 1:45 p.m. It stood at about 14 percent at 10:30 a.m., three hours after most of the polling stations in the Netherlands opened for the day. This is the first single-day election for the Tweede Kamer since 2017. The 2021 election was spread out over three days, with expanded access to cast a ballot by mail during the coronavirus pandemic.
Amsterdam, the largest city in the Netherlands, reported that 53 percent of its residents had exercised their right to vote by about 6 p.m. That rose from 23.3 percent five hours earlier. The capital's turnout remained somewhat lower than in 2017.
About 48.4 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in Rotterdam as of 6 p.m., but that figure was rising with the end of the work day. Over 29,750 people voted between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., the most compared to any other hour on Wednesday. he turnout rate there was 31.2 percent just before 3 p.m.
More voters were turning out in The Hague, too, with 23,900 voters arriving at the polls after 5 p.m.. That pushed the turnout rate there to 53.2 percent.
Voter turnout surged to 61.5 percent in Utrecht, up from about 40 percent. It reached 54.8 percent in Eindhoven, up from 35.7 percent three hours earlier.
More than 62 percent of eligible voters also showed up in Groningen, with those figures rising rapidly since 3 p.m. Emmen also posted a high turnout rate of 60.5 percent, while 62.4 percent showed up thus far in Hilversum. The municipality of Tynaarlo, Drenthe, is home to nearly 35,000 people. Voter turnout there already neared 69 percent.
