Elections in the Netherlands. With 26 parties to choose from, the Dutch who go to the polls tomorrow, Wednesday, certainly have a wide choice in an electoral process that is quite different from countries where voters have to choose between a few parties.
Polls in the Netherlands put the centre-right VVD, the fledgling NSC and the left-wing GroenLinks-PvdA alliance ahead in voting intentions for the election, followed by the far-right PVV, but the list of party candidates includes some unusual ones.
Here are five of them:
The Animal Party
“Animals are beings endowed with consciousness and feelings. Their lives must be treated with care.” So begins the Animal Party’s manifesto, which features a sad dog on its website and asks for donations.
His political agenda includes: enshrining animal rights in the Constitution, creating a joint Ministry of Health and Animal Rights to deal with human and animal health, and scrutinizing all government decisions to determine their impact on animal welfare animals.
The party also calls for an end to livestock farming, with a “dramatic reduction” in the number of animals killed for consumption.
It also calls for a ban on aquariums and circuses with animals and stricter rules for children to follow when visiting zoos: “animals are not stuffed animals”.
“Partij voor der Dieren” also campaigns on environmental issues such as housing and general welfare.
In the 2021 elections it collected almost 400,000 votes, securing six of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament.
50 years and older
As its name suggests, this party campaigns for the rights of older voters. He wants to restore the retirement age to 65 (up from 67 from 2024), cap social security contributions from 45 and abolish inheritance tax.
In the 2021 elections the party gathered just over 1% of the vote and thus received a seat in parliament. Before the 2021 elections it held four seats.
Party for a New Generation
At the other extreme is the Party for a New Generation, which campaigns for the youth of the Netherlands.
Free public transport and education, lowering the voting age to 14 and “radical equality” (“Down with the patriarchy”) are among the main points of this party’s manifesto.
It features four young people under the age of 18 on its ballot and the average age of its candidates is 29.8 years.
“All of them believe that things can be better and less stressful in the Netherlands,” says the party’s website.
Party of sports
With a picture of a smiling woman on her bicycle on its website, the Sports Party claims to be the only one that starts with “sport, movement and a healthy lifestyle for all Dutch people”.
Free sports facilities for under-21s, a reduction in health contributions for “healthy lifestyles” and incentives for people to walk or cycle to work are among the party’s pledges.
The party wants swimming to be compulsory in the school curriculum, with at least two one-hour physical education lessons a week.
Young students will be tested not only on their academic skills, but also on their ability to do physical exercise.
The Netherlands with a design
The party “The Netherlands with a plan” wants “more color in politics” and more voice in different groups. He introduces his program on a home page with an image of a typical Dutch landscape of green plains on which stands a windmill surrounded by a pond. The group presents itself as a “youth movement” that “also wants to give a voice to the Asian community in the Netherlands.”
His “plan” includes: free transport for all, a basic income for all, free childcare from the age of two and referendums on a wide variety of issues.
The article Elections in the Netherlands: 26 parties among them the party of the animals, the 50s, the youth and the Asians was published in Fourals.com.