Posted on 03/15/2017 12:33:02 PM PDT by Ray76
With two hours before the polling stations close, experts said turnout in the Dutch general election could top 80%.
Some 55% of the 13 million people eligible to vote had cast their ballot by 5.45pm, compared with 48% at the previous election in 2012. The number of voters is so high that extra ballot papers are being printed for polling stations in Amsterdam, The Hague and Tilburg.
Utrecht city council said on Twitter that turnout in Utrecht had hit 71% by 7pm, with two hours to go before the polls close. On the Wadden Sea island of Schiermonnikoog turnout topped 105% in the early evening. The island is a popular holiday destination and dozens of tourists are voting during their vacation.
In 2012, just under 75% of the population had voted when the polling stations closed at 9pm, while in 2006 turnout was 80%.
There have been long queues to vote all over the country, but particularly at some of the more unusual polling stations, including the top of the Adam tower on the IJ waterway and on an uninhabited island on the Markermeer lake, which included a 3.5 hour boat trip.
People wishing to vote in the parliamentary complex in The Hague had to queue up in front of a long line of foreign journalists who are in town to cover the results.
In Amsterdam, city officials have intervened at a mosque in the east of the city where Turkish flags and nationalist posters were on the walls even though it is being used as a polling station, the Telegraaf said. Political statements are not allowed in polling stations.
Exit poll
The Netherlands is electing 150 members for the lower house of parliament and a new government. The polling stations close at 9pm and an early exit poll will be published shortly afterwards but it will not be until around 11pm that a clear idea about the result is likely.
DutchNews.nl will start a live blog at 8pm, bringing the results as they come in.
The vote is being seen as a test of whether Europe really will swing to the right, in the wake of the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election as US president and ahead of key elections in Germany and France.
So by about 6PM East Coast Time we should know if Farage's candidate won.
“new ballot papers printed” I wonder how much fraud will be in these new ballots?
Make Holland Great Again
muzzies OUT
Wow...that's got to be good news for Wilders!
> On the Wadden Sea island of Schiermonnikoog turnout topped 105% in the early evening.
Interesting.
Maybe you can vote anywhere in the country, not just where you live.
I wonder if they borrowed a few of our democrats to show them how to get this chore done.
Wow...that’s got to be good news for Wilders!
That is my take. We will know in a few hours.
I can’t imagine Dutch liberals losing an election, but they say it could be so this time.
Extra high turnout sounds good for Wilders. We’ll see. Problem is the Saracens all vote, too and are probably as intent on not getting Wilders. Or maybe they think they will just catch him and cut his head off so it doesn’t matter.
Mosques don’t even hide their anti-Trump sentiment.
80% in Nederland is like, say, 65% here, It is more than normal but not as extraordinary as it sounds to Americans.
Fingers crossed. Go Geert! BTT
Geert wins. Sweden and Germany are itching to vote as well.
The mooselimes have worn out their welcomes in the west.
“Maybe you can vote anywhere in the country, not just where you live.”
That is true, and it is the reason for the more than 100% figure. The island is a tourist spot. Many vacationers voting there rather than in their home district. My Dutch wife commented about that story earlier today.
Please tell me this is a good sign.
I hope The Netherlands doesn’t continue to sink.
The first exit polls have the ruling party dropping from 41 to 31 seats, Wilders party going from 15 to 19 seats, in a three way tie for second place.
Before this election:
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