Liberal parties big winners in local elections

Wednesday 03 March 2010

With around 27% of the votes counted, the two Liberal parties VVD and D66 are emerging as the big winners in the local elections on Wednesday, making gains in most places nationwide.

The ruling Christian Democrats, and the Labour party lost seats, although Labour's losses were not as heavy as forecast earlier. The party appears to have benefited from its decision to pull out of the national government over Afghanistan.

In the Hague, with 77% of the votes counted, Geert Wilders' anti-immigration PVV had taken 17.5% of the vote to end in second place. Labour remained in first place with 21% of the vote.

Election campaign

The PVV was also set to be the biggest party in the new town of Almere. The party is only contesting the local elections in the two cities.

Wilders said in a speech to supporters that the national election campaign has begun. 'What has happened in Almere and the Hague can happen all over the country,' he said.

'We are going to conquer the entire country... we are going to be the biggest party in the country after June 9 vote.'

Amsterdam

In Amsterdam, the current Labour GroenLinks coalition appears to have lost is majority, opening the way up for a new coalition. With over half the votes counted, Labour has lost six seats but remains the biggest party with 14 out of 45 seats. GroenLinks are up one seat on eight.

The VVD remained unchanged in Amsterdam on eight seats while D66 added five to seven seats.

In Amstelveen, the VVD remained the biggest party with D66 making healthy gains.

By 23.45 in Rotterdam, populist party Leefbaar Rotterdam appeared to have just overtaken the Labour party. Wilders had urged his supporters to vote for the local group, originally founded by Pim Fortuyn.

For the live results on Nos tv, click here

© DutchNews.nl

Comments have been closed for this article.