Members of the right-wing Liberal party account for one-third of all local authority finance chiefs, according to research by the Volkskrant.

Labour council officials are more likely to have roles in social affairs and employment while D66 alderman are concentrated in education departments and local parties in housing and planning.

In total, 155 of the 268 VVD council executives are finance aldermen, the paper’s research shows.

Local parties

Local parties account for the most aldermen (320), followed by the Christian Democrats (301), the VVD and Labour (218).

D66 currently has just 66 aldermen but is poised to increase its share of the vote – and council executive representation – considerably after the March 19 local elections.

Local councils are run by the mayor (who is appointed by the crown) and a team of wethouders, or aldermen. The college van burgemeester en wethouders (B&W) is the local authority equivalent of the cabinet.

As with national government, the Dutch electoral system makes coalition councils inevitable.. Once a coalition has been identified and agreed, the councillors appoint the aldermen who are, in effect, local government ministers.

More on the March local elections