The Water Board elections will be held in the Netherlands on 20 March 2019. If you are over 18 and have a valid residence permit for the Netherlands you will most likely be eligible to cast your vote. To find out what’s at stake and who to vote for, join the Water Board election debate on Friday 15 March from 17.30 to 19.30 at IHE Delft.
The debate and introduction will be in English
and is open to the public, the doors are open at 17.15.
Venue: IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, Delft.
Preliminary programme
17.30-18.15 Introduction to the role and challenges of Water Boards in the Netherlands and the Delfland Water Board by Deltacommissioner Mr Peter Glas and Delfland Dijkgraaf Mr Piet-Hein Daverveldt
18.15-18.30 Interactive introduction to the issues at stake (click here to do the poll in advance)
18.30-19.30 Debate between the representatives of the five largest parties of the current governing board of the Delfland Water Board (VVD, AWP, PvdA, CDA and Water Natuurlijk)
Dutch
Water Boards and elections
The Dutch Water Boards are amongst the oldest
democratic institutes in the world. Nowadays, there are twenty-two Water Boards
in the Netherlands which are responsible for, among other things, flood
protection and the treatment of sewage water.
Every four years, the residents within a Water Board’s territory elect the members of the ‘residents’ category of members of the governing board. Apart from the ‘residents’ category, the board also includes representatives from the business, agricultural and environmental sectors. These representatives hold so-called guaranteed seats and are not elected by way of elections. A typical governing board is composed of 18 to 30 members. The majority of this number is elected by way of direct elections.
Eligibility
to vote
A voter must meet the following requirements:
- The voter must be 18 years of age or over
- The voter may not be debarred from voting
- The voter must have been a resident of a Dutch Water Board territory on nomination day, as evidenced by the Base Registry Persons.
These requirements apply equally to non-Dutch nationals holding a valid residence permit, irrespective of the term of their residence in the Netherlands. The same requirements for casting their vote in the Water Board elections apply to Dutch nationals and EU citizens.
More information:
- Water Board elections: https://english.kiesraad.nl/elections/elections-of-the-water-board
- Delfland Water Board: https://www.hhdelfland.nl/english
- Campaign video: https://youtu.be/2nLRylUeCr4
