2023 Dutch water board elections

Water board elections were held in the European Netherlands on 15 March 2023 to elect 518 of the 602[a] resident members of the country's water boards.[1]

2023 Dutch water board elections
Netherlands
← 2019 15 March 2023 2027 →

518 of the 602[a] seats in the water boards
Turnout53.61
Party Vote % Seats +/–
Farmer–Citizen Movement

19.89% 118 New
Water Natuurlijk

15.95% 97 +6
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy

10.27% 55 −15
Labour Party

9.39% 50 +1
Party for the Animals

7.47% 37 +20
Christian Democratic Appeal

7.26% 36 −24
General Water Board Party

5.25% 21 −2
Christian Union

3.07% 14 −1
50PLUS

3.03% 10 −22
Belang van Nederland

2.54% 5 New
Reformed Political Party

2.33% 13 +4
JA21

1.32% 5 New
Christian Union–SGP

1.16% 6 −2
Ondernemend Water

0.51% 1 New
Groningers' Interests [nl]

0.41% 3 New
The Greens

0.39% 1 −1
Others

9.46% 46 −11
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Voting form for the board of the Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier.

As in the provincial elections held on the same day, the Farmer–Citizen Movement became the largest party by vote share nationally and in 14 of the 21 water boards. Water Natuurlijk, which was endorsed by GroenLinks, Democrats 66 and Volt Netherlands fell to second place nationally but remained the largest party by vote share in four water boards. The Labour Party and local Water Board Party Hollandse Delta were also each largest by vote share in one water board.

These elections also saw a large increase in the number of elected officials to the water boards, due to a new bill which was passed by the Senate which heavily reduced the number of seats which went to stakeholders.[2] The total number of seats in each water board was not affected by this, instead the seats that were formerly held by stakeholders are now elected during the water board elections.[2]

Results

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National

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Party or allianceVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Farmer–Citizen Movement1,516,89119.89New118New
WNWater Natuurlijk1,171,72415.36–1.9091+6
Water, Wonen en Natuur[b]44,6260.59–0.1560
Total1,216,35015.95–2.0597+6
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy783,21910.27–3.6055–15
Labour Party716,3269.39–1.9050+1
Party for the Animals569,5637.47+2.7037+20
Christian Democratic Appeal553,5737.26–5.4536−24
General Water Board Party400,4025.25–1.0421–2
Christian Union234,4183.07–1.3814−1
50PLUS230,9993.03–4.5110–22
Belang van Nederland194,0142.54New5New
Reformed Political Party177,5372.33–0.1013+4
JA21100,5001.32New5New
Christian Union – Reformed Political Party88,4981.16–0.386–2
Ondernemend Water39,0230.51New1New
Groningers' Interests [nl]31,2350.41New3New
The Greens29,4310.39–0.181–1
Elderly Appeal - Heart for Water12,7400.17–0.140–1
GOLD10,0100.13New0New
Others[c]721,4029.46–6.1346−11
Total7,626,131100.00518+76
Valid votes7,626,13198.57
Invalid votes25,7520.33
Blank votes85,0591.10
Total votes7,736,942100.00
Registered voters/turnout13,759,20756.23+4.98
Source: Kiesraad

By Water Board

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Water Board Number of seats by party
BBB WN VVD PvdA PvdD CDA AWP CU SGP 50+ BVNL JA21 GB Other Total
Noorderzijlvest 4 6 1 3 - 1 - 1 - 0 0 - 1 2[d] 19
Fryslân 7 4 1 2 1 2 0 1 - - 1 - - 2[e] 21
Hunze en Aa's 6 5 1 3 - 1 0 1 - 0 0 - 2 0 19
Drents Overijsselse Delta 9 5 2 - 2 2 0 2 1 0 0 - - 2[f] 25
Vechtstromen 9 7 2 - - 3 1 1 0 0 0 - - 0 23
Zuiderzeeland 6 6[g] 2 - - 1 2 2[h] 1 1 - - - 21
Vallei en Veluwe 6 3 2 2 1 2 2 3 3 1 0 - - 1[i] 26
Rijn en IJssel 9 5 2 4 - 3 0 - - 0 - - - 3[j] 26
De Stichtse Rijnlanden 4 6 3 3 4 2 2 1 1 0 0 - - 0 26
Amstel, Gooi en Vecht 3 4 4 6 4 1 2 1 - 0 0 - - 1[k] 26
Hollands Noorderkwartier 6 2 3 3 2 1 0 0 - 1 1 - - 7[l] 26
Rijnland 5 4 4 4 3 2 1 1[h] 1 0 1 - 0 26
Delfland 4 4 4 3 3 2 3 1[h] 0 1 1 - 0 26
Schieland en de Krimpenerwaard 3 6 4 3 3 1 2 2[h] 1 0 1 - 0 26
Rivierenland 6 5 2 3 2 3 1 1 2 0 0 1 - 0 26
Hollandse Delta 4 2 3 2 2 1 0 1 2 1 1 1 - 6[m] 26
Scheldestromen 7 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 4 0 - - - 4[n] 26
Brabantse Delta 5 3 4 2 2 2 1 - - 1 0 - - 6[o] 26
De Dommel 4 7 4 3 3 2 1 - - 1 0 - - 1[p] 26
Aa en Maas 7 8 3 2 2 2 1 - - 1 - - - 0 26
Limburg 4 3 2 - 2 - 1 - - 1 0 - - 13[q] 26
Total
118 97 55 50 37 36 21 14 13 10 5 5 3 48 518
6
Compared to 2019 +118 +6 -15 +1 +20 -24 -2 -1 +4 -22 +5 +5 +3 -20 +76[r]
-2

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Each water board holds two seats for agricultural and nature reserve stakeholders respectively, which are not elected
  2. ^ Water Natuurlijk affiliate party in Waterschap Zuiderzeeland
  3. ^ Parties that only participated in a single water board
  4. ^ Betaalbaar Water: 1, Student & Water: 1
  5. ^ Fryske Nasjonale Partij
  6. ^ Gemeentebelangen Drenthe-Overijssel
  7. ^ Water Natuurlijk is represented in Zuiderzeeland by Water, Wonen en Natuur.
  8. ^ a b c d Joint list CU/SGP
  9. ^ Lokaal Waterbeheer
  10. ^ Vrienden van de Berkel: 2, Ondernemend Water: 1
  11. ^ De Groenen
  12. ^ Waterplatform Groen, Water & Land: 5, Boeren Burgers Waterbelang: 2
  13. ^ Waterschapspartij Hollandse Delta: 5, Hollandse Delta Natuurlijk: 1
  14. ^ Partij voor Zeeland
  15. ^ Ons Water: 3, West-Brabant Waterbreed: 3
  16. ^ Werken aan Water
  17. ^ Lokaal-Limburg: 3, Waterbelang Parkstad: 2, Waterbelang Midden-Limburg: 1, Waterbelang Westelijke Mijnstreek: 1, Waterbelang Heuvelland: 1, Waterbelang Venray en Maasduinen: 1, Waterbelang Maastricht: 1, Waterbelang Venlo: 1, Waterbelang Land van Weert + Leudal: 1, Waterbelang Horst-Helden-Beesel: 1
  18. ^ Due to a reduction in the number of guaranteed seats, the number of eligible seats has increased in all water boards

References

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  1. ^ Kiesraad (2017-07-04). "Verkiezingskalender - Actueel - Kiesraad.nl". www.kiesraad.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  2. ^ a b Unie van Waterschappen (2022-12-16). "Wet geborgde zetels per 17 december van kracht". unievanwaterschappen.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-04-22.