Football was clearly on people's minds in the Netherlands this year. "Ajax" and "WK Voetbal Vrouwen", or the Women's Football World Cup in English, were the most googled search terms in the country in 2019, Google announced in its Trend Reports on Wednesday.
European Parliament elections 2019
May 29 '19 13:20
Nearly half of the politicians who will soon represent the Netherlands in the new European Parliament are women. Of the total 26 Dutch European Parliamentarians, 12 are women. At 46.2 percent it is the highest percentage of female Dutch MEPs since 2009, NOS reports, and an increase from 34.6 percent.
May 27 '19 15:40
The police had to intervene at the Romanian embassy in The Hague on Sunday after a group of furious eligible voters stormed the embassy. The embassy closed its doors - and therefore also that of the polling station inside - at 8:00 p.m., before many Romanian voters, many of whom had stood in line for hours, could cast their vote. As far as is known, no arrests were made, RTL Nieuws reports.
May 27 '19 12:20
Nexit advocate Geert Wilders doesn't believe that his anti-Islam PVV will disappear from the European Parliament for good after the party's crushing defeat in the European elections last week. He called the results of the elections "disappointing" on Twitter, but added: "The PVV will be back. We have the best ideas."
According to the provisional results of ANP's election service, the PVV lost all four its seats in the European Parliament.
May 27 '19 09:46
While different parties across the European Union are celebrating victories in the European Parliament elections, the biggest winner may be the election itself. The turnout for this election, which was held in all EU Member States between Thursday and Sunday, was the highest since 1979, the European Parliament said on Twitter.
May 27 '19 08:31
The results of the European Parliament elections are in, with most of the votes counted. Some parties, like the PvdA and FvD in the Netherlands, are celebrating major victories. Others, like the PVV and SP, are mourning defeats.
May 27 '19 07:41
Almost all the votes in the European Parliament elections have been counted. As exit polls predicted, the PvdA is the big winner in the Netherlands. While the exit polls said Labour would get five seats, the party now stands at six. Populist PVV and socialists SP walk away with no seats, RTL Nieuws reports.
May 24 '19 08:24
Problems at polling stations in the United Kingdom resulted in non-English EU citizens, including many Dutch, being unable to vote in the European Parliament elections on Thursday. Local media blame the haste in which the elections were organized - the UK had to quickly organize elections when the Brexit was postponed until after the European elections.
May 24 '19 07:53
PVV leader Geert Wilders is disappointed by the exit polls results for the European Parliament elections. His anti-EU party received 4.1 percent of the votes, compared to 13.3 percent in the previous European elections. That means that his PVV will lose three of its four seats.
May 23 '19 22:48
There was faltering support for the Netherlands to withdraw from the European Union, according to a survey of voters and non-voters in the Netherlands during the 2019 European Parliamentary elections. The poll, conducted by Ipsos for broadcaster NOS, also showed several nationalist issues falling out of favor with the Dutch public.
May 23 '19 21:51
Voter turnout in the Netherlands was trending higher for the 2019 European Parliamentary elections in comparison to five years ago, with 41.2 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot on Thursday. In the last European elections, some 37.3 percent of voters went to the polls, according to exit polling by Ipsos and NOS.
This is still below the EU average of 42.6 percent voter turnout. Voter turnout in the Netherlands hovered around 37 percent in both 2010 and 2014.
May 23 '19 21:05
The PvdA, Labour party in the Netherlands, was the big winner in the elections held in the Netherlands to determine the country's representation in the European Parliament, according to an exit poll by Ipsos for broadcaster NOS. With a European contingent headed by popular European Commissioner Frans Timmermans, the Labour party is expected to hold five seats of the 26 up for grabs on Thursday night. That would equate to an increase of two seats, with the exit poll carrying a two-percent margin of error equating to one seat in parliament.
May 23 '19 14:00
Many Dutch politicians showed up to cast their votes in the European Parliament elections at polling stations throughout the Netherlands on Thursday. Prime Minister Mark Rutte voted at a primary school in The Hague that he used to attend. GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver showed up to vote with his newborn strapped to his chest. FvD leader voted at the Posthoorn church in Amsterdam. And PVV leader Geert Wilders voted in Duindorp in The Hague.
May 23 '19 11:30
At 10:30 a.m. the turnout for the European Parliament elections in the Netherlands stood at 7 percent. That is just under the initial turnouts for the previous two European Parliament elections - in 2014 the first turnout was 8 percent, and in 2009 it was 9 percent, NOS reports.
May 23 '19 08:28
The leaders of right-wing VVD and far-right FvD debated each other in the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening, the eve of the European Parliament elections in the Netherlands on Thursday. The sometimes fierce debate ranged from topics like leaving the euro to FvD leader Thierry Baudet's stance on women and the last time VVD leader Mark Rutte shed a tear. Baudet accused Rutte of "fear mongering" and Rutte called Baudet a "Russia lover", RTL Nieuws reports.
May 23 '19 07:40
The first polling stations for the European elections in the Netherlands are open. The first votes have already been cast in Castricum, traditionally the first polling station to open in elections held in the Nehterlands. There voters can cast their vote from midnight, NU.nl reports.
May 22 '19 12:40
This week residents of the European Union will vote for the European Parliament. The elections are held over several days throughout the EU, starting in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom on Thursday.
May 20 '19 13:00
FvD leader Thierry Baudet is facing criticism from other party leaders over a video he posted on Twitter. The video features women telling how they were sexually assaulted or raped by migrants and blaming politicians who "refuse to protect our borders", showing photos of GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver, VVD leader Mark Rutte and D66 leader Rob Jetten at the end.
May 20 '19 12:10
VVD leader Mark Rutte and Forum voor Democratie leader Thierry Baudet will face off against each other in a debate on television program Pauw on NPO on Wednesday evening. No one else is invited to participate in the debate. Other parties, particularly left-wing GroenLinks and PvdA, are annoyed that only the right and far-right will be represented in this debate on the eve of the European Parliament elections, which are being held in the Netherlands on Thursday.
May 17 '19 12:00
Approximately 13.5 million residents of the Netherlands are eligible to vote in the European Parliament elections next week. 3.6 percent of this group do not have Dutch nationality, but are EU citizens, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday based on population figures from 1 January 2019.
May 16 '19 08:40
In the run-up to the European Parliament elections next week, Prime Minister Mark Rutte is talking about his vision for Europe. According to the VVD leader, his ideas about that have shifted. "Europe is market and currency, but a point has been added", he said to Nieuwsuur on Wednesday night. That point is safety. Without the European Union, the Netherlands is just a small country on its own in a big and increasingly volatile world.
May 15 '19 08:44
Forum voor Democratie leader Thierry Baudet is taking an "irresponsible risk with our security, our stability, and our prosperity" with his positive attitude towards the Netherlands leaving the European Union, VVD leader and Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a speech about Europe on Tuesday, NOS reports.
May 10 '19 13:30
With the European Parliament elections only two weeks away, political parties across Europe are campaigning for what they think the European Union should be. Here follows a summary of the largest Dutch parties' views on the EU, compiled by broadcaster NOS.
