Parliamentary elections in the Netherlands
Audio 02:16
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, November 3, 2020 (Photo illustration) AFP - BART MAAT
By: Vincent Souriau
6 mins
This is the first legislative election to be held in Europe since the start of the year.
It takes place in the Netherlands today at the end of a campaign totally dominated by the health crisis.
The Dutch should also play for stability, the outgoing Prime Minister, the conservative Mark Rutte, is the favorite.
With a new fact this year: the polling stations opened on Monday March 15 for people vulnerable to Covid-19.
Publicity
There are signs that never fail.
Machiel de Vries welcomes us with surgical gloves, behind a plexiglass visor.
He is the boss of the polling station, and this year, Covid-19 is forcing it, it feels like a hospital.
“
The voting booths are much further away than usual, of course we have markings on the ground so that people keep their distance, plastic protections everywhere, that sort of thing.
With all these measures it has nothing to do with previous years.
But the fact that the vote is spread over three days means that there are fewer people, and I think it will be less intense than if the ballot was held on a single day,
”says Machiel de Vries.
In the Netherlands, to vote, you have to tick the box for your party on the ballot.
And above all, sanitary measure, throw the pencil out in a sterile container.
Painful, but necessary, as one voter pointed out to us.
“
Yes, it's dangerous and I recognize that there is a risk.
Just play smart with the distancing measures and we can end up with an increase in contamination in two weeks.
But I think it's acceptable.
Because postponing the elections is attacking the key element of democracy, and I think we should not play with these things.
So, that they have gone to the end, for me it is a good thing, because the majority of people want us to end it,
”sighs this voter.
This is the big question.
Did Mark Rutte have to postpone the election to avoid a domino effect?
“
To postpone the elections would have required a very serious threat.
It is true that the virus is still circulating, but, on the one hand, the exceptional health measures are there to guarantee the security of the ballot
”, reassures the researcher Derk Loorbach who never believed in the need to cancel the ballot .
“
On the other hand, the government resigned two months ago, which means that we do not have an executive with a real mandate, knowing that it will still take several months to form a coalition after the legislative.
Even with an election now, we won't have a government until the fall.
And there are a lot of texts to deal with outside of Covid-19.
So a postponement would have created a real legislative vacuum
, ”adds Derk Loorbach.
At the end of the first two voting days, the turnout in The Hague was 13.3%.
The bulk of voters is expected today.
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