Students win municipal elections
Student en Starter campaigned every day at the Utrecht Science Park. Photo: DUB
The Utrecht city council is going to be comprised of fifteen parties, up from twelve. GroenLinks remains the party with the most seats (nine) despite having lost three seats. D66 went from ten to eight seats, while VVD lost one seat, which means it now has five. BIJ1, Volt and EenUtrecht are the newcomers, with one seat, three seats, and one seat, respectively. Forum voor Democratie didn't manage to get any seats in Utrecht. Student&Starter kept the two seats won in the last elections.
| Partij | Zetels 2022 | Zetels 2018 |
| GroenLinks | 9 | 12 (-3) |
| D66 | 8 | 10 (-2) |
| VVD | 5 | 6 (-1) |
| PvdA | 4 | 3 (+1) |
| CDA | 3 | 2 (+1) |
| Partij voor de Dieren | 3 | 2 (+1) |
| Volt | 3 | 0 (+3) |
| Christen Unie | 2 | 2 (-) |
| Student & Starter | 2 | 2 (-) |
| SP | 1 | 2 (-1) |
| DENK | 1 | 2 (-1) |
| Partij voor de Vrijheid | 1 | 1 (-) |
| Stadsbelang | 1 | 1 (-) |
| BIJ1 | 1 | 0 (+1) |
| EenUtrecht | 1 | 0 (+1) |
STIP comes first in Delft
In Delft, Studenten Techniek in Politiek (STIP) has won the elections with a provisional 15.8 percent of the votes. However, this is not entirely reflected in the number of seats: STIP, D66 and GroenLinks all ended up with six seats.
“This is incredible”, STIP group chair Ida de Boer told local news outlet Omroep West. “I’m really proud that we got the most votes. We’re going to have a big impact in the years ahead.” STIP is already in the coalition.
First time
In Leiden, another student party called Studenten voor Leiden got two seats. It was the first time that the party participated in the elections, with a campaign focused on housing, sustainability and the hospitality industry. Their win was partly at the expense of D66, which is no longer the biggest party in that city. GroenLinks has the most seats in Leiden.
In Groningen, Student en Stad went from one seat to three. It probably won those seats from GroenLinks. That party lost two seats but remains the biggest party.
Wageningen Connect, a party for students, young people, expats and newcomers, retained its two seats with a student heading the list.
GroenLinks
GroenLinks is the biggest party in most student cities, namely in Eindhoven, Groningen, Leiden, Nijmegen, Tilburg, Utrecht and Wageningen.
One notable development is the major advance made by the PvdA in Amsterdam, climbing from five seats to nine and overtaking GroenLinks, which declined from ten to eight seats. In Rotterdam, Leefbaar remains the biggest party. The Senioren Party, a party for elderly people, won in Maastricht and Burger Belangen ended in the top spot in Enschede.
The same goes for the universities of applied sciences
The pattern is the same in many cities that don't have a research university but do have universities of applied sciences. GroenLinks and ChristenUnie share the first place in Zwolle. GroenLinks is also number one in Arnhem and number two in Leeuwarden (behind PvdA, which lost seats).
But VVD is the biggest party in Breda and Apeldoorn. In Den Bosch, D66 has taken over from the VVD as the biggest party. In Deventer, the local party Gemeentebelang won by a considerable margin.
The turnout was at an all-time low: around 50 percent. In Rotterdam, only 39 percent of those entitled to vote actually did so. Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Hanke Bruins Slot has announced an enquiry into the cause.