2014 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

An election of the Members of the European Parliament from the Netherlands was held on 22 May 2014. This is the 8th time the elections have been held for the European elections in the Netherlands.

Background Voting and election organisation Active voting right To cast a vote (for the right to vote) in elections for the European Parliament. The voter should: have either the Dutch nationality or the nationality of a European Union member state; be 18 years or older; not be disqualified from voting.

Non-Dutch citizens who are nationals of other Member States of the European Union may vote at the election of the European Parliament, provided that they: are living on the day of the candidates' nomination in the Netherlands; have attained the age of 18 on the day of the vote; are not disqualified from voting either in the Netherlands or in the Member State in which they are a citizen; have registered in a municipality with a statement that they want to vote in the Netherlands. (The so-called Y-32 form.)

Dutch nationals abroad have to register to vote for the elections to the European Parliament. Upon registration request, they must indicate whether they are voting by letter, by proxy, or in person at a polling station in the Netherlands. Dutch nationals living in another EU Member State must make a statement that they have not voted in the Member State in which they reside.

Dutch residents of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten have the same required as other Dutch living abroad. Dutch residents on Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba have no need to register, because these islands are part of the Netherlands. They may, as in other Dutch municipalities, vote at their polling stations.

The number of granted requests for registration in 2014 was 23,799 individuals. This was down from 39,601 registered international voters in 2009. Of these registered voters, 21,017 indicated they wanted to vote by mail, 1,804 requested to vote in the Netherlands itself at a polling station, and 978 wanted to grant power of attorney to someone in the Netherlands.

Passive voting right To stand for election (for the right to be elected), a candidate should: have either Dutch nationality or the nationality of a Member State of the European Union; be eighteen years on the day of possible admission to the European Parliament; not be excluded from the right to vote. Non-Dutch candidates from other Member States of the European Union must, in addition, be an actual resident in the Netherlands and not be excluded from the right to be elected in the Member State of which they are a national.

Organisation of elections

In elections for the European Parliament, the national electoral districts play no role in the nomination. The Netherlands consists of a single electoral district. Political parties, therefore, take part in the elections with only a single candidate list.

Although the national electoral districts do play an important role in processing the election results. The principal polling station of each constituency determines the vote total of the constituency. The results of the vote are recorded in an official document and transferred to the Electoral Council. The Electoral Council, in its role as the central electoral committee, then determines the result of the Netherlands' distribution of seats.

The transfer of the official recorded votes to the Electoral Council took place in 18 constituencies on Monday, 26 May 2014. On Tuesday, 27 May, this transfer occurred for the two remaining constituencies where the municipalities Raalte, Kampen (constituency Zwolle), and Ouder-Amstel, (constituency Haarlem) experimented with a centralised counting of votes.

Casting a vote A voter could cast their vote at a polling station of their choice within their own district. At the casting their vote, they could identify themselves with an identity document which is considered valid even if it has expired within the last 5 years.

Voters who voted in the election for the European Parliament in 2014 from outside the Netherlands experimented with a new model ballot. In this new ballot, parties were allowed to show the party logo above their candidates if it had been registered in advance with the Electoral Council.

Participation of political groups On Monday, 14 April 2014, the Electoral Council had a public hearing on the validity of the lists of candidates for the election of the Dutch seats for the European Parliament. The candidate list of the Women's Party was declared invalid because the required deposit to participate (€11,250) was not paid. Furthermore, the following candidates of the Party for the Animals were deleted because their documentation was incomplete and, as such, could not participate in the election: Tom Regan (United States); Will Kymlicka (Canada); J. M. Coetzee (Australia).

Numbering of the candidates list

Common lists A common list consists of 2 distinct parties which are sharing the same candidate list. The Christian Union and SGP formed a common list Christian Union-SGP for the European Parliament election.

Electoral alliances Several parties formed an electoral alliance. CDA/European People's Party and ChristenUnie-SGP PvdA/European Social-Democrats and GreenLeft

Election day Traditionally, all elections are held on Wednesday in the Netherlands. Sunday is not an option because it is a resting day for Christians, while Friday and Saturday are impossible, because of the Sabbath. Monday is also impossible, because then all preparation for an election would need to happen on the weekend. That leaves Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as possible election days. Many polling stations are located in schools, therefore, Wednesday is chosen because it is usually the quietest day of the week for classes. However, the European Parliament Elections run from Thursday to Sunday across the entire European Union. Therefore, Thursday is the election day for the European Parliament Elections.Election Committee Why we vote on Wednesday

Treaty of Lisbon

According to the Treaty of Lisbon, the Netherlands was awarded 26 seats in the European parliament. This is one more than the election of 2009. The last elections were held when the treaty was not yet in effect, because not all member states had ratified the treaty. The treaty came into effect during the last session of the European Parliament. The additional seat was then awarded to the Party of Freedom on 9 October 2011 based on the results of the 2009 election. This increased the numbers of seats for the PVV from 4 to 5 for the 2009–2014 session.

Campaign Campaign posters

Polls Poll results are listed in the tables below in reverse chronological order. The highest figure in each survey is displayed in bold type, and the background is shaded in the colour the party. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded.

Seats

Date Polling FirmVVDPvdAPVVSPCDAD66CU−SGPGLPvdD50PLUSOthers 26 May (Preliminary results) ANP 3 3 4 2 5 4 2 2 1 0 022 May (Exit polls) Ipsos 3 3 3 3 4 4 2 2 1 1 018 May Peil (prognosis) Peil (prognosis) 3–4 2–3 4–5 3–4 4–5 4–5 2–3 1–2 0–1 0–1 015 May TNS Nipo 3–4 2–3 3–4 3–4 2–3 4–6 2–3 2 0–1 1 016 Apr TNS Nipo 4–5 2–3 4–5 2–3 2–3 3–5 2–3 1–2 0–1 0–1 0–113 Apr Peil 4 2 4 3 4 4 2 1 1 1 06 Mar Ipsos 4 3 4 4 3 4 2 1 0 1 011 Jan TNS Nipo 5 3 5 4 3 3 1 1 0 1 0 20144 June 2009 Election results 3 3 4 2 5 3 2 3 0 0 0

Percentages

Date Polling FirmVVDPvdAPVVSPCDAD66CU−SGPGLPvdD50PLUSOthers26 May (Preliminary results)ANP11.9%9.4%13.2%9.6%15%15.4%7.6%7.0%4.2%3.7%3%22 May (Exit polls)Ipsos12.3%9.4%12.2%10.0%15.2%15.6%7.8%7.3%4.2%4.2%1.1%15 MayTNS Nipo12.3%9.9%11.9%11.9%11.3%19.3%9.5%6.0%1.6%3.8%2.5%16 AprTNS Nipo16.2%10.5%18.1%9.9%11.1%15.7%8.3%4.7%1.0%2.8%1.8%13 AprPeil15%8%15%11%15%15%7%4%4%4%1%6 MarIpsos16%10%16%14%13%15%6.7%3.7%2.7%3.5%N/A11 JanTNS Nipo16.4%12.2%17.2%13.2%10.6%12.3%6.2%3.7%2.2%3.8%1.7% 20144 June 2009 Election results 11.4% 12.1% 17.0% 7.1% 20.1% 11.3% 6.8% 8.9% 3.5% − 2.0%

Results

The Christian Democratic Appeal won the most seats and was seen as the winner of the 2014 elections, although Democrats 66 received more votes. The Christian Democratic Appeal got an extra seat due to their electoral alliance with Christian Union – Reformed Political Party. The eurosceptic PVV (Party for Freedom) was the biggest loser of the 2014 elections, though it only lost one seat. Contrary to other European countries, the eurosceptic movement did worse than previous elections.

Voter turnout was with 37.32%, which is a little higher than in 2009 (36.75%). Turnout was highest in Schiermonnikoog (70.95%) and lowest in Sint Eustatius (7.44%).

European groups Summary: The ALDE remained the biggest group in the Netherlands. They increased their seats from 6 to 7, thanks to Democrats 66 seat win. The PVV (Party for Freedom) founded and joined the ENF, they were Non-Inscrits before. The SGP (Reformed Political Party) joined the ECR and left the EFD group. The Christian Union and SGP, which were in separate groups since 2009 rejoined the same group again. The Party for the Animals joined the GUE/NGL group, increasing their seats from 2 to 3. The G-EFA lost one seat, because GreenLeft lost one.

EPPS&DECRALDEGUE/NGLG-EFAEFDDENFTotal5 (CDA)3 (PvdA)2 (CU-SGP)4 (D66)3 (VVD)2 (SP)1 (PvdD)2 (GL)4 (PVV)26

References

2014 European Parliament election in the Netherlands

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