With interest levels plunging through the floor local politicians are resorting to sexy campaign posters to try and shake voters into action. And councils appear to be increasingly desperate judging by the amount of nudity on offer.
There hasn't been quite so much fuss since the progressive PSP used a campaign poster showing a naked woman stretching her arms into the air in front of a cow a field in 1971.
With less than 50 percent expected to go the polling station for the 3 March election it's easy to see why the politicians are resorting to these drastic measures.
Minorities
Polls also indicate that the expected turnout among voters with a foreign background will be particularly low. Four years ago, this group felt their voice needed to be heard.
Now the urgency seems to have disappeared. In Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, posters and flyers printed in Turkish had to be withdrawn after they caused commotion. There is no rule saying campaign material has to be in Dutch, but it is kind of traditional.
Outrageous posters
However, it is the use of nudity on campaign posters, which is becoming more and more outrageous, that is grabbing the most headlines.
In the province of Drente the local conservative VVD party used an illustration taken from a naked photo of the French President's wife and former model Carla Bruni. In the drawing the only thing the woman is wearing is a police cap on her head. Her hands are in front of her crotch. The text reads "Don't strip the police. Vote VVD".
Private parts
Similarly a student party in Leeuwarden pictures a young man holding a beer glass in front of his private parts. The text reads: No more no less. In the municipality of Haarlemmermeer a local party leader is shown pinching the breast of a fellow party member. The party invites voters to "see the real story behind the poster".
But the prize for the most graphic poster goes to Sociaal Delfzijl in the north of the country. The poster shows two bare breasts with voting circles over the nipples. The question asked is: "Will you be voting left or right?"
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In this case do not blame voters if they hurt the poor puzzled and had to stop and time-consuming and hard before Indhar to choose between right or left.
A very Dutch way of doing things :}
Have we really sunk so low? Very very sad.
The posters are funny. It's cool that they are allowed to be posted. In half of the world the people who made the posters would be sentenced to death or prison.
What do women's breasts have to do with voting? For that matter, what does a man's penis have to do with voting? This is pornography and not amusing.
I would be voting the middle and turn to the left or right when requested.
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