Number of mayor applicants still decreasing; Ministry launching an investigation

Many Dutch municipalities are currently struggling to find a new mayor. The number of applicants has been declining for years. The Ministry of Home Affairs is concerned enough to launch an investigation into why people don’t want to be mayor anymore, RTL Nieuws reports.

Melis van de Groep has been mayor of Bunschoten-Spakenburg for 18 years and is due to retire in September. However, the municipality still has not been able to find a successor. None of the seven applicants who responded to the vacancy was suitable, so the entire procedure will have to be restarted. “The net was cast once; there were too few fish in it,” Van de Groep said. From September, he’ll wait to see what happens as an interested citizen.

Hoeksche Waard also had a failed procedure to appoint a new mayor this year. The municipality will restart the procedure and likely only appoint a new mayor next year.

Currently, 37 Dutch municipalities are looking for new mayors. Vacancies in large municipalities like Rotterdam attract dozens of applications. But smaller municipalities tend to only get a handful. In 2016, there were still an average of 30 candidates per vacancy. This year, there are 18, according to the broadcaster.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations is very concerned about the declining number of candidates. “The fact that another procedure has now been halted is, of course, very worrying. It is a trend that we are following closely,” a spokesperson told RTL. “Because we do not know the exact cause, we will be investigating this in the coming period.”

Political scientists Zahra Runderkamp and Simon Otjes will investigate. “It is certainly a worrying trend,” Runderkamp told the broadcaster. “You want sufficient growth for political positions, such as mayor, but also aldermen and municipal councilors. Our society depends on that. We are going to map out which factors play a role and will make recommendations for the Minister.”

Runderkamp can already think of two potential factors. Increasing threats likely play a role - 77 percent of mayors previously indicated that they had been threatened at least once. “It affects all of politics, but mayors, in particular, very hard,” Runderkamp said. That is partly due to how visible mayors are. “Research shows that visibility leads to more hatred and violence.”

Runderkamp added that the job has also become more demanding. Mayors have to balance things like freedom to demonstrate and public order, and they must also address many safety issues.

“The attractiveness of the office has had our attention for some time,” a spokesperson for Home Affairs said. The Ministry is funding training courses and an orientation program to try and encourage more people to get to know the office and apply for the job.