UTRECHT – D66 predicts that it will be the largest party in Utrecht after the municipal elections. The local branch had Maurice de Hond conduct a poll, which shows that D66 is currently leading the campaign for the municipal elections. The party is losing seats, but GroenLinks – currently the largest group – will lose even more, predicts De Hond.
Last weekend, the well-known pollster questioned almost five hundred respondents about their political preferences. According to that poll, D66 will become the largest party with 17 percent of the vote. GroenLinks and VVD follow with 14 and 12 percent respectively. De Hond places newcomer Volt directly in fourth place with 8 percent of the votes.
Coalition loses
“Maurice de Hond’s research is in line with other sources and polls,” says political reporter Marc van Rossum du Chattel of RTV Utrecht. “Based on that, you can say that the current coalition is heading for a big loss. Both GroenLinks, D66 and the ChristenUnie have to give up seats.”
Van Rossum: “It looks like Volt will be the big winner in these elections. The party is not yet represented in the city council. Based on all sources, it seems very likely that Volt will be the third or fourth major party to make its entrance into the Utrecht council.”
More election news and other information can be found in our UKiest file.
Just or not a seat
It will be exciting for the SP and BIJ1. With 2 percent of the vote, they get a seat or not. Local party EenUtrecht, the Piratenpartij, List Marcello van der Wal, the Socialists and Interest of the Netherlands will have to work hard in the coming weeks if they want to win a place in the city council. They only got one percent in this poll. That’s not enough. With 3 percent, Forum for Democracy seems to be on track for a council seat.
Based on the results of the previous municipal elections, GroenLinks currently has 12 seats in Utrecht. D66 has 10. Over the next four years, they may both have to settle for fewer party members, because De Hond gives at least thirteen parties a chance. The Utrecht council currently consists of twelve political groups. Residents can choose from twenty lists of candidates on 14, 15 and 16 March.
Record number of games
“Utrecht is heading for a record number of parties in the Utrecht council,” says reporter Van Rossum. “Now there are twelve. After March 16, there could well be thirteen or fourteen. A further fragmentation of the political landscape means that making decisions and finding council majors will become more difficult.”
D66 had Maurice de Hond do the opinion poll because he would have provided a reasonably accurate prediction for the final result four years ago. That poll was then carried out on behalf of GroenLinks.
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