On March 16th 2022, all municipalities in the Netherlands will hold municipal elections. In Amsterdam, there is much to choose from, as 26 parties will be running in the elections. This diverse bunch of parties offer something for everyone, as the choice does not just limit itself to the standard centre-left and centre-right parties, but also includes diverse political groupings such as nationalists, socialists, greens Euro-federalists, animal-rights activists, youth movements, and republicans. Picking one party can be a daunting choice, but luckily I am here to help. Read along! I will guide you through the different ways of orienting yourself and deciding which party fits you the best.

First things first: to decide what party to vote for, you got to know which political parties fit within your interests. A good way of doing this is by filling in a stemhulp (votehelp). Stemhulpen are political tests that present you with a variety of questions (often between 25-40 questions) about all kinds of ideological and policy topics related to the elections. These tests come in various forms, but for voters in Amsterdam, the main test is the Stemwijzer. This test consists of 25 questions. Based on your answer you will get the parties of Amsterdam ranked in order of relevance from most fitting to least fitting. Important to note for the internationals is that the test is only in Dutch, but translating the webpage to English will give a good result and enable you to also take the test. Keep in mind to still also check any other political party that interests you, even if they don’t score high, as the tests can be biased/unnuanced at times.

After you narrowed down your choice to the political parties that interest you most, it is time to check their verkiezingsprogrammas (electoral manifestos). These are found on the websites of the political parties. While parties tend to make a lot of promises backed up by rhetoric during election campaigns, they rarely go into their actual plans. That is what electoral manifestos are for. In these, you can find the plans (or the lack of them) behind the rhetoric and election promises. I must admit that for most people reading these electoral manifestos is not fun, as they can be quite long and convoluted (I am probably the only person in this country who actually enjoys reading them), but it is very important to make a good comparison between the parties.

Lastly, it is important to look at how the candidates conduct themselves and compare this. A good point of reference for this are televised debates and following their campaigns on social media. News articles, such as Voting with Volkers, can also be a good source for this. During election time, many magazines and newspapers will follow the candidates closely and conduct interviews with them. For Dutch students, this is easier, as there are many sources available. For internationals it might be a bit more difficult, however, most of the English news sources concerned with the Netherlands (e.g. DutchNews.nl) do tend to cover the Amsterdam elections.

I hope this new edition of Voting with Volkers has brought you a bit closer to making your choice, as the elections come closer. So stay tuned for the next instalment of Voting with Volkers!

 

Missed the last Voting with Volkers? Click here to understand what the municipal elections are!