Christian parties lose in Dutch provincial elections

Disastrous. That is the only term to characterise the CDA’s election results of the Dutch Christian Democrats (CDA). Two years earlier, the they took a beating in the national elections. Now, it seems to have lost yet another bastion.

With seat losses in every province, the Christian Democrats will likely lose four of their current nine seats in the Senate. This is because the new Provincial Council members will elect the new Senate on May 30th.

Losses

The Dutch governing Christian Union lost a seat in nine of the twelve provincial councils. Tens of thousands of voters left the party compared to the previous Provincial Council elections of 2019. It is almost certain that ChristenUnie will drop from four to, at most, three Senate seats.

Only the Reformed SGP party seems to have limited the losses. On Thursday morning, no seat losses were projected. However, to retain the current two seats in the Senate, the party needs to grow with the help of another party. In 2019, the SGP received a second seat after the right-wing Forum for Democracy helped them by voting for them in the Senate elections.

Reckoning

Most losses were due to the rise of a new party: the BoerBurgerBeweging (Farmer–Citizen Movement), or BBB, won the elections by a landslide. The result is a drastic reckoning with the Rutte government. On the night of the election, commentators and politicians from several parties questioned the continued existence of the coalition.

While Prime Minister Rutte denied on election night that the result would have any immediate consequences for his coalition, the triumphant BBB leader Van der Plas increased the pressure on the coalition: “The people who have not been listened to for years have made their voices heard”, she said on the public television channel NOS. Van der Plas repeatedly emphasised that her success was not solely due to the ongoing farmer protests and the nitrogen crisis.

A survey confirms her statement: 60 per cent of the participating voters called their vote a protest to government policies. The main reason was the “incompetence” of the cabinet, which confirms the results from recent studies: these had attested to a severe loss of confidence in the established parties.

Populist

The BBB, founded in 2019, is quite populist and conservative but stands out from Geert Wilders’ rabidly anti-immigrant PVV or the openly right-wing extremist Forum for Democracy. “If you look at how we vote, we’re a little to the right of centre. In the social sphere, more to the left,” said Van der Plas in an interview with the Dutch daily Telegraaf shortly before the election. The party sees itself as the “voice of the province”. It has long been seen as a representative of farmers whose existence is threatened by the government’s nitrogen policy.

Diederik van Dijk, senator for the SGP party says to be disappointed about the elections results. He finds it “sad” that the Christian parties are “dropping again”. According to him, this is detrimental to medical-ethical issues, among others.