Live blog: Utrecht results trickle in – PVV wins in most municipalities

This live blog is now closed. We will continue tomorrow morning in a new live blog.

If you would like to know before then what the results are in municipalities where this is not yet known, you can see this in the map below, as soon as the results are received.

In this tool you can also see with which parties a coalition can be formed. This can be done via the ‘coalition builder’ button.

In the city of Utrecht, the PVV did not end up in the top three largest parties. This is the case in all other municipalities where the results have been received so far. GroenLinks-PvdA wins in the city with 35 percent of the votes. For comparison: in 2021, GroenLinks and PvdA together achieved 18.6 percent.

The PVV has to make do with fourth place, behind D66 and VVD. Yet the party can also look back on good elections in Utrecht. Two years ago, 5 percent of the votes went to Geert Wilders’ party, now that is almost 10 percent.

In most municipalities where the results have now been received, the PVV appears to be the largest party. This is the case in Stichtse Vecht, Woerden, Oudewater, Lopik, Nieuwegein, Vijfheerenlanden, Rhenen, Veenendaal, Renswoude, Bunschoten and Eemnes.

In Woudenberg, the SGP emerged as the largest party, while the VVD did well in De Ronde Venen and Soest.

The most likely national number two is the largest in Zeist, Utrechtse Heuvelrug and Bunnik and is also in the lead in Utrecht and Houten.

Nothing is yet known about the other eight municipalities.

With 74 percent of the votes counted, GroenLinks-PvdA is leading in the city of Utrecht, the municipality reports. Second place provisionally goes to the VVD, followed by D66.

The PVV is in fourth place with 7.1 percent of the votes and is therefore not doing nearly as well as nationally. Utrecht was also the odd one out in the previous House of Representatives elections. At that time, a majority voted for the VVD in almost all municipalities, but D66 won in Utrecht.

In Renswoude, the choice also fell on the PVV, which means that the PVV is now the largest party in all municipalities where the votes have been received.

The PVV also emerged as the winner in Eemnes and Lopik. Especially in Lopik they leave the competition far behind them. Number two VVD takes just over 15 percent of the votes, while the PVV ends up with almost 30 percent.

Tonight’s exit poll means bad news for SP member Jasper van Dijk. De Utrechter has been active in the House of Representatives for 16 years, but that now seems to be coming to an end. Van Dijk was in ninth place on the party’s list, which now appears to end up with five seats. There is therefore a good chance that Van Dijk will lose his seat.

The first Utrecht result is in and, not surprisingly, it comes from Renswoude. That municipality is often the first in the province to count the votes. Renswoude follows the national trend, because the PVV has become the largest. This is followed by the SGP and BBB. The VVD, which was the largest in Renswoude two years ago, falls outside the top three.

The Utrecht-based Partnership for Moroccan Dutch is concerned about the consequences of the PVV’s impending victory. “The distress and fear are very great,” says Habib el Kaddouri.

He says he is afraid that this will result in Muslims and Moroccans being regarded as second-class citizens from now on. “I don’t know if Muslims are still safe in this country. I worry about this country.”

Vluchtelingenwerk has also indicated that it is very concerned about the PVV’s profits. The organization hopes that a new cabinet will not get bogged down in symbolic politics, but “will work on solutions that are good for citizens and refugees”.

On a special election evening in TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, people reacted with shock to the news that the PVV appears to be becoming the largest party in the Netherlands. “Terrible, terrible, I can’t say anything else,” said one attendee. Utrecht traditionally votes on the left and on this results evening, most attendees appear to have voted for GroenLinks-PvdA or another left-wing party.

In the rest of the province, the VVD was mainly chosen in the previous elections. The question is whether this is still the case or whether the PVV has also become the largest here in many places

The exit poll has been submitted, we now have to wait for the first definitive results to trickle in. Traditionally this is in the province of Utrecht Renswoude or Eemnes. Who is first this year? Or will another municipality come out fastest?

The PVV is the largest party in the exit poll. Geert Wilders’ party ends up with 35 seats, well behind number two GroenLinks-PvdA. That party appears to have 26 seats. The VVD ends up with 23 seats and Pieter Omtzigt’s NSC ends up with 20 seats.

The first exit poll comes in at 9 p.m. But what exactly is an exit poll and how reliable is it?

The exit poll was conducted by Ipsos and is a kind of shadow election. Voters were asked at 62 polling stations in the country what they voted for and this should provide an accurate picture of the final result. To achieve this, polling stations are selected that together form a good cross-section of society.

But it remains a sample survey and therefore the exit poll may differ from the final result. Ipsos itself says that it is normal that they are one seat off the actual result here and there. “It can also happen that a deviation of two seats occurs for one or more parties. In extreme cases, deviations of three seats can also occur.”

This means that the results that will come in soon will probably give a good picture of the outcome of the elections, but that some parties could simply lose a seat or gain one.

With an hour to go until the polls close, Utrecht mayor Sharon Dijksma is calling on everyone who has not yet voted to do so. Mayor of Vijfheerenlanden Sjors Fröhlich also calls on everyone on X (formerly Twitter) to exercise his or her voting rights.

After several national turnout figures during the day, the first local turnout figures are now trickling in. In the municipality of Utrecht, 73.3 percent of all voters had gone to the polling station around 7:35 p.m. The turnout percentage was also just above 70 percent in the municipalities of Wijk bij Duurstede and Woudenberg.

The turnout in Utrecht is striking compared to the other major cities. In Amsterdam around the same time it was 65 percent and in The Hague 62 percent. Rotterdam is doing the worst of the big four, with a turnout percentage of 57 percent.

The polls will be open for just over an hour and then vote counting will begin. Last time, the VVD emerged as the largest nationally. But how did the province of Utrecht vote then? You can see it in the map below.

About 50 percent of eligible voters had cast their votes by 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Two hours earlier, at 3:45 p.m., the total turnout was an estimated 40 percent.

At 50 percent, the current interim turnout percentage is lower than in the 2017 House of Representatives elections, when 55 percent of eligible voters had cast their votes at 5:45 p.m. The municipality of Utrecht is already above 60 percent, so it still seems to have a relatively high turnout.