2.4 million people can vote by post, and 810,000 youngsters are first-time voters

Photo: Depositphotos.com
Photo: Depositphotos.com

Some 18% of the 13.2 million people eligible to vote in this month’s general election are over the age of 70 and can do so by post, national statistics agency CBS said on Tuesday.

The proportion of people aged 70 and over is lowest on the former island of Urk and Utrecht, at around 10%, but in Laren, one of the Netherlands richest local authorities, 32% of the residents can vote by post, the CBS said.

Postal voting has been extended to the over 70s this year because of coronavirus.

Since the 2017 general election, a further 883,000 youngsters have turned 18 and reached voting age, although 73,000 of them can’t vote because they are not Dutch nationals.

In total, 93% of the population over the age of 18 can vote, including 70% of those with ‘foreign’ roots. Almost everyone with at least one parent born outside the Netherlands has the right to vote on March 17.

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