A landslide, a monstrous victory; These were the terms journalists used to describe the PVV’s election victory this morning. However, after the Wilders party, the NSC led by Pieter Omtzigt also managed to win a large number of voters, especially in the northeast of the Netherlands.
GroenLinks-PvdA is well represented in major cities and surrounding communities with higher vocational and university education. You can read about this and more in this article using five cards.
PVV is big in the Bible Belt
PVV is gaining a lot of votes in the south, in the mining region and in the former peat colonies in the north-east of the Netherlands. The party was already big there, but it is now gaining ground in the Bible Belt of Reformed churchgoers, stretching from Zeeland over the Veluwe to communities such as Kampen and Zwartewaterland in Overijssel. The biggest party was in Oldebroek and Elburg, among others.
“PVV is doing well with young people there,” electoral geographer Josse de Voogd says of the Bible Belt. “While non-Christian parties get almost no votes there.” But Wilders’ party has also grown in Westland and other gardening communities. De Voogd: “Where that was the case before, especially in places where the economy was a bit more difficult, now the party has become more of a right-wing, conservative party.”
NSC is popular in the north-east of the Netherlands
Pieter Omtzigt’s NSC is also among the big winners, with an expected 20 seats. The main NPC stronghold is Twente, where Omtzigt is from. Many residents here had also voted for him in previous House elections when he was still a CDA member.
De Voogd: “But it is now also gaining points in cities that are not traditionally CDA focused.” Considering that NSC is the second most popular party, it seems that the party is performing well in the northeast. Holland.
This is largely due to the loss of CDA. De Voogd: “But this also seems to be partly due to the division created by PvdA voters who do not accept the merger with GroenLinks.”
GroenLinks-PvdA has a strong presence among university graduates
GroenLinks-PvdA performs particularly well in areas where many people with higher vocational or university education live. The biggest party is in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Nijmegen, among others. De Voogd: “And you can also see that progressive municipalities have a ring around them of wealthy surrounding communities that are increasingly voting for GroenLinks-PvdA.”
This can be seen, for example, in the voting behavior of Ouder-Amstel near Amsterdam, Bunnik near Utrecht and Heumen near Nijmegen. De Voogd: “There is a kind of ‘Green Belt’ between Haarlem and Nijmegen, a contiguous strip where green progressive parties are successful and where many well-educated people live.”
But traditionally educated people in rural areas in the north also often voted left. Now this situation seems to have decreased. De Voogd: “There was a segment of older voters who continued to vote very loyally for the PvdA, but their children no longer do so.”
Rotterdam is one of the major cities where the PVV is doing well, and the surrounding communities also vote overwhelmingly for the PVV. De Voogd: “There are more business elites, whereas in Amsterdam there are more cultural elites. Surrounding communities also take on this color.”
But he notes that the PVV’s victory in Rotterdam was smaller than the victory of Pim Fortuyn’s right-wing populist party, the LPF, in 2002. De Voogd: “Despite the PVV victory, Rotterdam is also heading in a progressive direction.”
For the VVD, the PVV victory and yesterday’s big loss of seats were like a hammer blow. The party became the largest party in predominantly wealthier municipalities such as Wassenaar, Gooise Meren and Waalre.
Breda was the only major city where VVD was number 1. De Voogd: “The wealthy villages in the neighborhood merged with the municipality of Breda may have tipped the scales, and if only the city had been counted, the results would have been different.”
The VVD, where the Liberals once had the largest majority, has now become the second largest party. However, in the northeast the party often falls outside the top 3. De Voogd: “The decline is notable where they have recently grown at the expense of the CDA: in Twente, Achterhoek and North Brabant.”
This map shows where the VVD lost the most compared to previous elections:
Source: NOS
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
