Elections | How did people vote at UvA polling stations?
That Amsterdam once again turned red and green in last week’s general election will have surprised few. Despite a disappointing result nationally, GroenLinks–PvdA, together with D66, dominated the vote in the capital. But which parties came out on top at the UvA polling stations?
The University of Amsterdam hosted five polling stations for last Wednesday’s general election. These were located at the Bushuis on Kloveniersburgwal, the P.C. Hoofthuis on Spuistraat, CREA on Nieuwe Achtergracht, the main building of the Faculty of Science at Science Park, and the Amsterdam University College (AUC) building. The former university library on Singel, which used to serve as a polling station, was not used this time. Across the five sites, a total of 4,342 valid ballots were cast. The most popular location was CREA, where 1,785 voters turned out.
Then, to the results by polling station. At Bushuis, it was a neck-and-neck race between D66 (220 votes) and GroenLinks–PvdA (214). The Party for the Animals (PvdD) came third with 84 votes, followed by the VVD (73). The PVV, despite being the second-largest party nationwide, received just 21 votes here, fewer than Bij1 (40) and the SP (24).
A little down the road, at the P.C. Hoofthuis, GroenLinks–PvdA came out on top with 155 votes, closely followed by D66 (134). The VVD took 69, and Bij1 came fourth with 28. The PVV was far from popular here, securing only five votes.
At CREA, the polling station on the Roeterseiland campus, GroenLinks–PvdA (587) led the way, ahead of D66 (500). The PvdD finished third with 182 votes, followed by the VVD (130). The Science Park polling station showed a similar top three: GroenLinks–PvdA (346), D66 (195), and PvdD (100). Notably, Volt took fourth place there, with 53 votes. At Amsterdam University College, the picture was comparable: GroenLinks–PvdA received 155 votes, D66 136, and the PvdD 44. With just three votes, this was the least favourable UvA polling station for the PVV.
Results
Altogether, the UvA polling stations produced the following outcome: GroenLinks–PvdA emerged as the largest party, with 1,457 votes, accounting for 33.6 per cent of all ballots cast at the university. In parliamentary terms, that would translate to roughly 50 seats. D66 followed with 1,185 votes (27.3 per cent, equivalent to 41 seats). Next came the PvdD, with 432 votes (9.9 per cent, or 15 seats), and the VVD, with 315 votes (7.3 per cent, around 11 seats). Bij1 finished fifth, attracting 197 votes (4.5 per cent, just under seven seats).
Another striking detail: of all the parties that won seats in the national parliament, the SGP was the only one to receive no votes at all at the UvA polling stations. 50Plus also failed to make much of an impression, collecting just three votes in total from the university electorate.
When it comes to preference votes, D66 leader Rob Jetten was by far the most popular candidate, securing 630 votes across the UvA locations. Within GroenLinks–PvdA, Marjolein Moorman –former Amsterdam alderwoman and once an associate professor of Communication Science at the UvA – narrowly outpolled her now-departed party leader Frans Timmermans, with 310 votes to his 295.
