Amsterdam city council is opposed to plans by the borough council of Zuid to spend up to €60,000 encouraging expats to vote in the forthcoming local elections.

And mayor Eberhard van der Laan says he will raise this issue with the borough council chairman, the Parool reports on Friday.

Earlier this week it emerged Zuid wants to encourage foreign workers who can vote to make use of their rights. Some 60,000 foreign nationals – EU citizens and people who have lived in the capital for more than five years – can take part in the March 19 election.

The issue of Zuid’s expats was raised by local Labour leader Marjolein Moorman. She said it would be wrong to allow Zuidas to target expats after plans by the city authority to spend up to €400,000 on targeting ethnic minorities were torpedoed.

That plan was seen to favour Labour and GroenLinks, both of whom are set to lose support in the city. Expats, Moorman is quoted as saying, are more likely to vote for the VVD and D66. The D66 Liberal democratic party is challenging Labour to become the biggest party in the city.