The 2019 provincial elections in the Netherlands: the Rise of Forum voor Democratie after a heavily nationalized campaign

Abstract

The 2019 provincial elections marked a spectacular victory for challenger party Forum voor Democratie and a substantial defeat for two government parties. The Liberals, led by prime minister Rutte, which had been the largest party in many recent elections, came second in a fragmenting party-political landscape. The Greens were the other opposition winner, while two opposition parties at the ideological extremes, the Socialist Party and the Freedom Party, suffered considerable losses. Regional or non-statewide parties remained a marginal phenomenon: they attained on average three percent of the votes. Further illustrating the heavily nationalized nature of the provincial elections, the campaign mainly focused on national issues such as climate change and the possible loss of the majority for the coalition parties in the Senate, which is elected by the provincial councils. The latter clearly affected turnout, which rose to over 56%, the highest turnout in provincial elections in thirty years.