Polling stations have opened in 394 of the 431 Dutch municipalities for the local council elections.

In an attempt to attract young voters to the polls, polling stations opened at twelve o’clock midnight in Groningen, The Hague and Rotterdam. The experiment appears to have worked in Groningen and The Hague where festivals were organised to draw in young voters.

Night votes
In Groningen, 450 people had voted in the first hour and a couple of hours later 800 votes had been cast. “The atmosphere is excellent, there have been no incidents up to now,” said a polling station representative.

In The Hague, people queued as soon as the polling station doors opened, but interest waned as the night wore on. “You can see people have come specially because it’s exciting to vote at night,” explained another polling station representative. In The Hague 300 people cast night votes.

But miscommunication in Rotterdam meant that many voters thought voting was only possible in the first hour after midnight, so polling station staff had little to do. This meant that only 50 people voted during the night. Polling stations are obliged to remain open for at least eight hours once they have opened.

Cabinet fall
It is uncertain what effect the fall of the Dutch cabinet will have on the municipal elections. The coalition government fell a week-and-a-half ago, after the Labour Party pulled out. The local elections were already dominated by national politics with party leaders playing a prominent role in election campaigns. Since then there have been a series of television and radio debates.

The Labour Party is expected to do badly, but Wouter Bos has generally done well in recent televised debates and the party may profit from the fall of the government. However, in last night’s debate, Green Left leader Femke Halsema managed to come out on top, after she criticised Mr Bos’ leadership and clearly set out her position on integration.

The remaining coalition parties, the Christian Democrats and the Christian Union, could lose votes as a result of the fall of the cabinet. Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party has only fielded candidates in two municipalities, The Hague and Almere, but is expected to do well. Rita Verdonk’s Proud of the Netherlands party has fielded candidates in a number of towns and cities and may profit from the Freedom Party’s absence.

Dutch voters have until nine o'clock this evening to go to the polls. Turnout is expected to be low.