Social Democrats lose Amsterdam after 68 years

The local elections of March 19 have led to a spectacular result in Amsterdam: for the first time in the 68 years' existence of the PvdA (the Dutch Social Democrats), the PvdA is not the biggest party in the Dutch capital.

The big winner of the 2014 local elections is D'66 (left-liberals). D'66 went from 7 to 14 seats in the Amsterdam 45-seats council.
The PvdA lost 5 seats, going from 15 to 10 seats.

Since the end of World War 2, the Social Democrats have alwasy dominated the Amsterdam politics, so this results is a huge blow for the local PvdA.

The Amsterdam council has 45 seats, so a coalition needs 23 seats to form a local government. Coalition talks in Amsterdam have yet to start.

Other parties in the new Amsterdam city council:

- VVD (right-liberals): 6 seats (-2)
- GroenLinks (Green left): 6 seats (-1)
- SP (Socialist Party): 6 seats (+3)
- CDA (Christian Democrats): 1 seat (-1)
- Partij voor de Dieren (Animal party): 1 seat (0)
- Partij voor de Ouderen (Party for the Elderly): 1 seat (+1)

PvdA and VVD are nationally in a coalition government at the moment, and the general belief is that these 2 parties lost in most municipalities because of national politics, rather than local politics.

The turnout in Amsterdam was only 43%, some 10% below the national average.

There was national upheaval about an incident with the PVV party in The Hague. The PVV is a right wing, mainly anti-islamic/anti-immigrants party, of which the party leader, mr Geert Wilders, has acquired some international fame.
On a party meeting in The Hague he called for 'less Moroccans' in The Hague, which is generally regarded as a step further than his usual calls for 'less Islam', 'less European Union' and less immigration. This attack on an ethnic group as a whole has met with fierce criticism from almost all other political parties. Even the Dutch cabinet officially denounced Wilders' remarks, stating that everybody in the Netherlands is treated and protected as a person, not as a member of a group.
The PVV only took part in the local elections in the cities of The Hague and Almere.