The local parties in the municipal elections in 2010 finally grabbed the power. PvdA, VVD and CDA rarely ended so close together. An overview of the election four years ago.
The municipal elections this year are on Wednesday March 19. Two days later, the final election results are announced.
The Partij van de Arbeid was by far the winner of the elections in 2006, but four years ago it was a very different story.
The major national parties PvdA, VVD and CDA finished within one percentage point of each other, according to the results of the Electoral Council.
Countryside
Since the nineties, local parties gain votes nationwide . “In rural areas, local parties are present since 192″, says Arno Korsten , Professor of Public Administration. “In some municipalities, you could only vote at local parties at that time.”
According to Korsten, the big change is that local parties have become popular above the rivers in recent decades. From the south and along the borders the number of local parties spread to other municipalities.
In 141 of the 393 municipalities where elections were held in 2010, the local parties were the big winners. The CDA was far behind with 82 municipalities, with VVD (73) and PvdA (55) in the wake.
The PvdA was in the most popular party in five of the ten largest municipalities. Where the major national parties are prevelant in large municipalities, the local parties rule in the countryside. Rotterdam also had a large share of local parties, Leefbaar Rotterdam paramount.
2010 election results by municipality :
Few women
After the election the Central Electoral Committee shall appoint the elected councilors. Then the city council will check whether the prospective board member has no conflict of interest with other activities. If not, the member can be admitted to the Board.
Most of the local politicians who are elected four years ago were male, according to data from Overheid in Nederland. This is a census of January 2014. In the city councils, 25.5 percent is female.
The percentage of female members of Mayor and Aldermen (19.3 percent) and mayors (21.3 percent) is slightly lower. In comparison; according to the latest count 38 percent of parliament is female.
For years now, not a huge amount of women want to become city council member”, says professor Korsten
“There have been years not a huge amount of women who want to become city council member ,” said Professor Korsten. “It’s a long and unruly process to get placed on an electoral list.“
Men’s stronghold
It’s partly explained by the few interested women to be placed on the electoral list. “It seems very difficult to reconcile with the daily work.”
“You also have to look forward to put everything aside for taking through council documents until late hours. the council membership is stressful. Therefore local politics is and will remain a male bastion.”
Spokeswoman Gerda Bosdriesz of political knowledge centre ProDemos also finds explanation in the fragmentation of political parties . “There are more parties than ever to vote for. There can be only a limited number of people on the list, and those are usually men.”
Additionally, Bosdriesz suggest that women are often asked for a spot on the ballot. Despite women since the 60s have become more independent, it is rare that they offer themselves to get on the list.
“Local politicians are much older, so there are still quite a few women with the classic setting. Council work is very difficult to combine with a family.”
Tubbergen
The Netherlands has three municipalities with at least 50 percent of women in the council, namely Bellingwedde (50 percent) , Arnhem (52.39 percent) and Blaricum (64.71 percent).
Tubbergen has no women in local politics. Also in Zederik, Landerd, Simpelveld, Strijen, Schermer, Millingen aan de Rijn and Ameland the number of politically active women is sporadic .