Voters with a non-western background are no longer automatically prepared to vote Labour and are either undecided or will vote D66 or for a local party in the local elections, according to a new survey.

The Labour party has relied for years on the support of Dutch voters with an ethnic minority background, but is set to lose out to the democratic Liberals D66 on March 19, according to a survey among Turkish, Surinamese, Antillianen and Moroccan voters.

The survey, carried out by voting site Kieskompas and the Forum institute found that D66 is expected to take between 10 and 15% of these votes. One in ten of these voters will choose a local party, followed by PvdA, green party GroenLinks, Socialist Party, the Christian Democrats and the right-wing liberal VVD. One in three are still undecided.

Family

According to Kieskompas, many young voters in these groups are turning their backs on Labour because they are thinking for themselves rather than taking the advice of their imam, trade union or family.

‘These young people are moving away from the tradition of voting Labour, which is a great sign of emancipation,’ André Krouwel from Kieskompas told the Telegraaf.

“This particularly applies to Turkish youngsters, who no longer need Labour because they are economically independent,’ Krouwel said.

Ritual slaughter

Another group have shifted away from Labour because of disagreement with the party’s view on female equality, homosexuality and the ban on ritual slaughter, the survey shows.

At the local elections in 2006, 80% of immigrant voters voted Labour.

DutchNews.nl’s own survey is showing a similar trend. In polls ahead of the last local and national elections, the Labour party was the winner. But in the current poll, D66 is far ahead of the rest.