Elections for the provincial councils

The big issues in Zuid-Holland

The Dutch are going to the polls on March 2 to elect their provincial representatives. Voting is often done with an eye on the national elections – those voted in will in their turn choose the new senate – but local issues will also make up minds. This is the seventh in a Volkskrant series on the most pressing provincial headaches.

Zuid Holland is the most densely populated province in the country. Life is hectic and fast. In this jumble of cities, satellite towns and greenhouse horticulture, environmental planning is essential, especially since the province is also home to the ‘Groene Hart’ or green belt. This is the province’s responsability and one way of financing it is by levying car tax.

In Zuid Holland this tax has risen faster than in any other province over the last four years and it has become a prominent campaign issue.

Cuts

PVV and VVD agree that it should come down. The other national parties, such as the PvdA want it to rise by ‘no more than the rate of inflation’. The party feels that the province cannot afford to lower the tax since national cuts mean it will have to tighten its belt as it is.

GroenLinks doesn’t want to lower the tax either. One thing it definitely does not want to spend the revenue on is an ‘extension of the road network’. It would rather invest the money in the RijnGouweLijn, a tram link between Gouda, Alphen aan de Rijn, Leiden and Katwijk, and a provincial hot potato.

Prestigious money pit

SP and animal welfare party Partij voor de Dieren think the tram line is a waste of money, ‘a prestigious money pit’. The money would be better spend on public transport which covers the small villages, the SP says.

PVV and VVD like the project although they are responsible for the fact that the provincial purse will not be as full as before. The VVD thinks the solution is to exclude a number of villages from the public transport network while the PVV wants budget cuts for art, culture and regional television.

According to the makers of election site Kieskompas the VVD is even more rightwing and conservative than the PVV although there is very little to choose between the two on that score.

The elections as usual are about money and the scramble for the biggest share. It remains to be seen if the Christian Democrats can hang on to their majority in Zuid-Holland. The party has a robust candidate in Liesbeth Spies while the VVD has opted for the young and relatively inexperienced Floor Vermeulen.

The PVV candidate is a political toddler compared to these two but, according to Geert Wilders what she is lacks in experience she more than makes up for in drive.

This is an unofficial translation

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