A large part of the Netherlands went to the polls yesterday for the provincial elections and to vote for the water boards. When Ipsos’ exit poll was announced last night on behalf of the NOS, there was mainly disbelief at the monster victory of the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) of Caroline van der Plas.
Disbelief, pride and joy at BBB
As a newcomer, the BBB wins about 15 seats in the Senate, as many as the GroenLinks/PvdA combination. Full of disbelief, pride and joy, Van der Plas gave a speech to her supporters. Check it out here:
Sadness at CDA
Things were very different at the CDA. That party was told yesterday that the number of votes compared to the previous elections has been halved. The party still has 5 seats in the Senate. “This hurts,” CDA member Hugo de Jonge said about it. He congratulated the BBB and spoke of a ‘landslide’, watch it here:
CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra called the loss of his party an ‘extremely bitter pill’. The result was even worse than hoped, he said:
Successful cooperation
GroenLinks and the PvdA, on the other hand, were happy again, the cooperation of those parties appears to be successful in the exit poll. According to Ipsos, they end up with fifteen seats in the Senate, just like the BBB. The parties are in ecstasy, as can be seen in this video:
‘Stability remains’
Then Prime Minister Rutte, who seems to be losing something with the VVD. The party will go from twelve to ten seats in the Senate. What especially hurts for Rutte is that the coalition is losing a lot in the Senate: the government parties together go from 32 to 24 seats, 38 seats are needed for a majority.
Yet the prime minister is not concerned about the governability of the country. “I also think that the cabinet can remain stable in the coming years, because they are parties that also want to take responsibility,” said Rutte late last night in front of the NOS camera.
Earlier in the evening he congratulated BBB leader Van der Plas. “She has done a very good job,” said the prime minister:
D66 and Christian Union
D66 leader Sigrid Kaag believes that her party can be ‘quite pleased’ that it seems to have won six seats in the Senate ‘despite all the opposition’. That would mean a loss of a seat. D66 is in the government coalition together with the CDA, the VVD and the ChristenUnie.
ChristenUnie leader Mirjam Bikker spoke of ‘an exciting evening’. “After we won the largest number of votes ever in the States elections four years ago, we did everything we could to match that. And it will remain exciting for a while,” she summarized the exit polls.
Opposition parties
Thierry Baudet, leader of the Forum for Democracy (FvD), saw his party lose a considerable number of seats. In Rotterdam, the party even went from being the largest four years ago to a meager 3.6 percent of the vote now. Nevertheless, the politician called the provisional result ‘wonderful’ and ‘a very good start’. According to Baudet, his party is working on a ‘long-term’ project.
PVV leader Geert Wilders said he was pleased that the coalition ‘justifiably received a major blow; has got. “The cabinet has had its day and the PVV has its best days ahead!” Wilders said in his speech.
Volt leader Laurens Dassen said he thought it was ‘great’ that his party would soon also be represented in the provinces and in the Senate. It means that the still young party’s “optimistic” and “progressive sound” has caught on with voters, Dassen said.
Annabel Nanninga thinks it’s ‘really good’ if she manages to win three seats with her party JA21, which it now looks like. “We are really holding our own in a wave of negatives and red numbers,” she said after the exit polls were released.
Media
And the media? They also talk about only one thing: the profit of Caroline van der Plas. “A blow to the coalition”, headlines de Volkskrant. “The government is now under pressure from two sides,” the AD writes. “Power changes in the provincial houses,” writes Trouw.
Our elections have not gone unnoticed abroad either. “Farmers’ protest party makes big gains,” headlines the British news agency Reuters. “Protests are now turning into votes,” writes the French news agency AFP.
And to top it off, the front page of De Telegraaf today: “KaBBBoem”.
