Most European students are not aware that they can vote in the upcoming city council elections. And even if they are, they have a hard time finding information about the parties and their views. This article aims to give you the information you need.
The participating parties. (Photo: Nora de Vries)
Most of the information on these elections is in Dutch, so it is difficult to access for international students and expats. In this article, Delta gives these students and employees a brief description of the parties and their ideas for Delft, and specifically for students in Delft and at TU Delft.
When are you eligible to vote?
International residents may vote if they are over 18 years old and are officially registered in the Netherlands. If you hold a passport from a European Union member country, you may vote regardless of how long you have lived in the Netherlands. If you hold a passport from a country outside the European Union, you need to have been registered as a resident of the Netherlands since at least March 21st 2013. In other words, you need to have lived in the Netherlands for at least five years.
The political parties in Delft (in order of current seats in the council)
- D66 is with 8 seats the biggest party in the city council at the moment. It is a national party and identifies itself as a progressive democratic liberal party. Its mandate focuses on education, housing and the environment.
- Stip with 4 seats shares second place with two other parties. It is a local students party, drawing most of its members from TU Delft. It is progressive and its mandate focuses on sustainability; the relationship between Delft and the university; the city’s students; and activities and events.
- GroenLinks (4 seats) translates as ‘GreenLeft’, which basically summarises what the party stands for. Its mandate focuses on the environment, inclusion and a caring municipality.
- PvdA (4 seats) is a social democratic, centre left party.
- CDA (4 seats) was originally a national Christian party, but it now has many non-Christian voters. It identifies as centre right, but it also has some centre left characteristics.
- Onafhankelijk Delft (3 seats) is a local right-wing, conservative party. Its main issues include fighting fundamentalist Islam in Delft; 100% privacy; and creating more affordable rental houses for indigenous Dutch people.
- SP (3 seats) is a democratic socialist party. Its main goals are more affordable rental properties and fighting poverty.
- VVD (3 seats) is the biggest party in the Netherlands in national politics, but in Delft it is smaller. It is a centre right party that mainly focuses on the free market, entrepreneurs and liberal values.
- Stadsbelangen Delft (2 seats) is a local party that does not specifically identify as right/left or red/green. Its core value is that Delft should be open for anyone, regardless of age, origin, sexual orientation et cetera.
- ChristenUnie (2 seats) is another Christian party and it bases its standpoints more directly on the Bible than CDA does. It is socially conservative, with conservative views on gay rights and abortion for example, but has leftist views on issues like welfare and immigration.
In these articles you can find the standpoints of the parties on issues that concern students: - Student housing
- Sustainability
- Vibrant Delft
- Biking in Delft
- Vibrant and accessible campus
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