Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte casts his vote in the general election in The Hague, the Netherlands, Wednesday. March 17. 2021. Peter DeJong/Pool via Reuters photo)
AMSTERDAM--Dutch citizens cast the final votes on Wednesday in a national election fought during the coronavirus pandemic, with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the conservative VVD party expected to win a fourth term in office.
The election was widely seen as a referendum on the government’s performance during the crisis, in which more than 16,000 people have died of COVID-related illnesses and police clashed with protesters opposed to strict lockdown measures.
With a night-time curfew in place due to continuing high infection rates, and a ban on public gatherings during the day, the campaign was conducted mostly through television debates.
By early afternoon turnout was 42 per cent, compared to 33 per cent four years ago. However, in this election elderly voters could use mail-in ballots and polls opened two days early to allow for social distancing.
Rutte’s main rivals have criticised a slow vaccine roll out, but struggled to distinguish themselves as they support government policy.
“I’ve been taking responsibility for the past 10 years” said Rutte (54), one of Europe’s longest-serving politicians, at a final debate on Tuesday night. “I’m trying to govern, in difficult circumstances.”
Roughly 13 million voters are eligible to pick from dozens of parties contesting spots in the 150-seat Second Chamber of Parliament. The first exit poll is expected shortly after voting ends at 9:00pm (4:00pm in St. Maarten) on Wednesday.
“I am very unsure who to vote for. What I do know very strongly is that I am voting against the [COVID-19 – Ed.] measures, so it will have to be a party that takes action in this respect,” said Amsterdam resident Dolores May Hoppener (32).
Centre-democrat D66 which is a junior member of Rutte’s coalition has made late gains in opinion polls on the strength of the performance in debates of its leader Sigrid Kaag who served as United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon in 2015-2017.
Kaag (59) was a long-time diplomat in the Middle East who now heads the largest left-leaning party in the Netherlands, and has been gaining support with a pro-European stance that contrasts with Rutte’s Euro-scepticism.
The two most recent polls, conducted after voting started on Monday, showed Rutte’s party taking around 25 per cent of the vote, with Kaag’s D66 now pulling level with the largest opposition party, the Party for Freedom PVV of anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders at 12 to 14 per cent.
In a sign of the difficulty holding an election during the pandemic, the Dutch politician leading the government’s response to COVID-19 said he was going into quarantine.
“I just received a notification from the corona app that I may have been in contact with someone who recently tested positive,” Minister of Public Health, Welfare and Sport Hugo de Jonge said on Twitter after casting his ballot. “Luckily, I have no symptoms.”
