By Caroline Klaver – Bouman.
In the Netherlands, elections to the municipal council take place once every four years. The next ones are on March 21, 2018.
What quite a few diplomats and other expats do not know is that they can also vote in the local elections in the municipality they live in. EU citizens need to meet the same requirements as Dutch nationals, while non-EU citizens only need to have been legally resided in the Netherlands for at least 5 years. More voting details at the end of this article.
The municipality council decides on a lot of matters that have a real impact on the immediate living environment. For example, garbage collection, shopping area and parking, street facilities and local (sport) facilities. So, if you want to have an impact on the environment you live in at the moment, we would encourage you to use your right and vote on March 21.
I live in Wassenaar, as well as quite a few diplomats and expats. I am one of the candidates for the VVD in Wassenaar, the VVD is the political party of the H.E. Prime Minister, Mr. Mark Rutte. However, in Wassenaar we have been in the opposition for the last four years. We would like to create a better understanding of your needs. If we know what Wassenaar lacks for you, we can try to fight your battle, your voice could be heard on a local level.
In order to gather all your wishes and comments we joined forces with Diplomats magazine.
Readers of DiplomatMagazine.nl are more than welcome to join us. More details will follow shortly on wassenaar.vvd.nl.
We would like to stay in touch with you through quarterly meetings to ensure we have an open dialogue and can represent you better in the municipality council.
Requirements for voting
The same requirements for casting their vote in the municipal council elections apply to Dutch nationals and EU citizens. A voter needs to meet the following requirements: i) he/she must be 18 years of age or over, ii) he/she may not be debarred from voting, iii) he/she must have been a resident of a Dutch municipality on nomination day, as evidenced by the Base Registry Persons. These requirements apply equally to all non-EU citizens who have legally resided in the Netherlands for at least five years. In other words, possessing Dutch nationality is not a requirement to be entitled to vote in the municipal council elections.
Everyone eligible to vote will receive an invitation to cast their vote sent to their home address no later than fourteen days prior to election day. This invitation includes their poll card. The poll card allows the voter to cast their vote in one of the polling station of their choice within the municipality’s borders.
Polling stations are open from 7.30 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.
