Parliament was elected in the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Once again, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his right-wing liberal party VVD emerged victorious.
Update from March 17, 9:25 p.m.:
The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his right-wing liberal party VVD won the parliamentary election as expected.
According to the first forecasts in the TV channel NOS on Wednesday evening, VVD will be by far the strongest force in the Second Chamber of Parliament with around 23 percent and 35 seats.
Rutte could become head of government for the fourth time in ten years.
Update from March 17th, 2:25 pm:
Mark Rutte said he was "cautiously" optimistic on the way to his vote.
The Dutch Prime Minister has a good chance of a fourth term.
“I am proud of what we have achieved in the Netherlands over the past ten years.” The country has “the best functioning economy in Europe”.
The question in the current election is "who can best lead this country through the Corona crisis and then enable a new beginning in the country".
Update from March 17, 1:45 p.m.:
The Netherlands reports brisk voter turnout.
By 10.30 a.m., 30 percent of those eligible to vote had already voted - queues formed in front of some polling stations.
Netherlands voting in Corona times: Unusual places chosen as polling stations
Update from March 17th, 12.30 p.m.:
In the Netherlands, due to the corona pandemic, votes are taken in unusual places.
In cemeteries, prisons and churches.
According to the
German Press Agency
, the
reason for this is
that the distances can be maintained better at these locations.
For example, a polling station was built in the New Church in Delft, where the royal family's crypt is located.
In The Hague, the choice was made in the art museum and in Utrecht in a cemetery building.
In Arnhem, the election was held in a former prison.
Update from March 17, 11.20
a.m.: Election failure of the Dutch Minister of Health: Hugo de Jonge was
only able to cast his vote at the second attempt
on Wednesday, according to the
German press agency
.
The reason was an expired passport that he presented to the polling office in Rotterdam.
He was not allowed to vote in this way.
"The rules apply to him too," said the local election officer.
"Even if he (King) Willem-Alexander had been, we would not have allowed it."
A spokesman for the minister announced that the old passport was in the same drawer as the new one.
This led to the mix-up, although the expired passports in the Netherlands are riddled with holes in order to mark them as no longer valid.
De Jonge, who drove to the polling station in his car, did not have his driver's license with him either, with which he could have identified himself.
The Minister of Health was only able to vote at the second attempt - and with a valid passport.
The breakdown is also explosive because Hugo de Jonges’s political opponents had accused him over the past few months of fighting the pandemic of not getting anything done.
The country lags behind other EU countries when it comes to vaccination.
Elections in the Netherlands: The polling stations are open - voting has been possible since Monday and Tuesday
Update from March 17th, 11.10 a.m.:
The polling stations have been open since 7.30 a.m.
Dutch citizens who are eligible to vote can cast their vote for a new parliament until 9:30 p.m.
The vote takes place under strict corona measures.
Due to the pandemic, the election was extended by two days for the first time.
People were allowed to cast their votes on Monday and Tuesday.
12 percent of voters made use of this option.
First report from March 17, 11 a.m .:
The Hague - On March 17, the 150 members of the Second Chamber will be elected in the Netherlands.
The parliament in the Netherlands consists of two chambers, the first chamber only approving bills, while the second chamber is the actual legislative body.
The current Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has a good chance of becoming Prime Minister for the fourth time.
The 54-year-old politician has been the political leader of the conservative-liberal party Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) since 2006.
However, forming coalitions in the Netherlands can be difficult.
Mark Rutte: Good poll numbers despite the affair about child benefits
Mark Rutte's party is currently ahead of the polls with around 25 percent.
So far she has 32 of the 150 seats in parliament and leads a four-party coalition that includes the conservative CDA and Christian Union parties and the center-left D66.
Many experts expect that Rutte will benefit from his handling of the corona pandemic.
But not all Dutch people are satisfied with his politics.
When a night curfew was imposed in January for the first time since the Second World War because of the corona pandemic, the unrest in years was the most violent.
There were renewed demonstrations on the Sunday before the elections in The Hague.
The police used water cannons and batons against hundreds of protesters.
They demonstrated against the government, but also against the applicable corona restrictions.
In the Netherlands, Rutte is also often referred to as the "Teflon mark" because it has the ability to survive political crises unscathed.
The liberal politician had announced his resignation at the beginning of the year because of a government scandal over child benefits, but had remained in office.
With him, the entire government resigned.
The authorities had wrongly accused thousands of parents of child benefit fraud and, by demanding repayment, plunged many families into financial hardship.
Parliamentary elections in the Netherlands: problems with postal voting
In this year's parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, people over the age of 70 can vote for the first time by postal vote.
This was previously only allowed to Dutch people living in another country.
However, the postal elections caused major problems on the second day of the parliamentary elections.
Many people made a mistake in carrying out the election, yet their votes should be counted.
Therefore, the procedure for counting postal votes had to be adapted so that voting secrecy remains in place.
This was announced by Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren on Tuesday in The Hague.
When sorting the voting envelopes, I noticed that many people put the ballot paper and the completed ballot paper in the same envelope.
As a result, voting secrecy no longer exists, as you can assign the vote to the voters.
Around five to ten percent of postal votes are affected by the problem, says the ministry.
According to the new regulation, the envelopes with the ballot paper may be opened to get the ballot paper out.
Then the envelopes with the ballot paper are thrown into an urn.
The votes are counted on Wednesday evening when all polling stations are closed.
(Dana Popp)