A legion of foreign troll armies might be spreading misinformation online to influence Wednesday’s local elections – but ever more Dutch political parties are working out how to log into Instagram and trying to exploit social media.

While some researchers are concerned about polarisation among young people and the huge reach of far-right parties such as Forum voor Democratie, Christians, Socialists and green advocates are taking them on.

Dutch News has done an extensive analysis into the most successful – and most unlikely – candidates taking one small step into cyberspace for the greater good of local democracy. Here are the top seven best and worst efforts.

ChristenUnie: dope

Troubled by local drug problems, the ChristenUnie party in Ede has taken the power of its six seats to create a social media campaign that even hit national television. In a video, “niet snuiven, maar aanschuiven” – don’t sniff, join in – a group of young supporters appears to cut up a bag of white powder on a park bench… before tucking into poffertje pancakes with that Dutch essential, icing sugar. Perhaps because users have been consuming it too enthusiastically, the video appears to be inactive.

Snore

Facial hair comes up a couple of times, after Forum voor Democratie posters across the country were vandalised with thick moustaches. Christian Democrat CDA senator and Maastricht candidate Theo Bovens points out on LinkedIn that his own bushy accoutrement is entirely home-grown – despite any fake news to the contrary.

Meanwhile Youri Companjen, standing for GroenLinks-PvdA Roerdalen, in Limburg, takes inspiration on Instagram from a vandalised poster and scribbles on his own face. He says something too, but you probably have to be Limburgs to understand it.

Fall guy

The left never lets its partners down, especially when labour PvdA merges with the GroenLinks green left party – that’s the message broadcast on social media from Laarbeek. “You can’t trust everyone, of course, but you can trust us,” says Dirk-Jan Gloudemans, allowing one of his colleagues to “trust fall” off camera. He walks in the other direction and we never see her again.

Man’s world

It’s a man’s world, and there are lots of hairy voters out there. Making another dive into comedy, GroenLinks-PvdA Laarbeek is back again with hero Daan Titulaer assuring those allergic to an overdose of wokeness: “Yes, it’s true, there are men on the list, yes indeed.” He adds, to people clamouring at his (electric?) car window: “I’m going for the male vote!”

 

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Hey bitches

Zita Pels, deputy mayor for housing and head of GroenLinks in Amsterdam has made less loving column inches with her Insta-efforts. Pels, formally part of the city executive, posted an Instagram video mouthing American rap to explain her thoughts, “if anybody was confused about my political beliefs.” JA21 Amsterdam leader Kevin Kreuger has submitted formal questions on what the city means by the words: “Fck b1tches get money” and “eat the rich” and how it intends to implement them in practice.

But attempts to capture yoof culture take their ultimate expression in a video by SP Zwolle on Instagram, beginning: “Hey bitches, Harmke hier”. Harmke Schoenmaker, 68, has won national media attention and a devoted fanbase with her stab at rapping. The text was written by Gen Z, apparently. She truly slays it.