TO THEM ’s Post

Tomorrow there are elections in The Netherlands. Every time we have elections in The Netherlands, I volunteer in my municipality to be the head of the local voting station. Normally, I only post work/branch related topics about identity documents , security features and other general topics regarding identity documents. But today I make an exception. Since I have a broad amount of international connections, I made this post to be some sort of an Q & A. Feel free to ask questions about our system, current affairs or other general questions you have about The Netherlands and politics. Note: I will not give voting advice or start a discussion about why party A is better/worse then party B. More of a 'neutral' individual with some insights and to give some information about The Netherlands. In my opinion; LinkedIn is not the platform to discuss political views or to have major discussions about certain political topics, but in general it is good to have a nice, friendly and respectful conversation with people that are interested, about the general topics.

Japan's main opposition CDP won all three Lower House by-elections in constituencies in Tokyo, Shimane, and Nagasaki. The results are expected to impact the management of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio's government. The LDP did not field candidates in two of the districts, one of which saw a candidate resign over vote-buying allegations. Party officials from both the CDP and LDP have commented on the results, with the CDP seeing it as a test of political reform and the LDP vowing to work for regaining public trust after a fundraising scandal. #AsiaOperations #PoliticsandElections #Japan Follow us for daily updates on risk and operations in Asia! https://lnkd.in/dAaEMnvS

The right wins elections in France and Germany. Austria would also join. They are already in Italy and Argentina. Now it is the turn of the Conservatives in the US. Europeans voting in EU elections today are expected to lurch further to the right, as Germany's leading party suffers losses and French hardliner Marine le Pen is set for a massive win over Emmanuel Macron. On top of these, many voters have been hit by the cost of living, have concerns about migration and the cost of the green transition and are disturbed by geopolitical tensions, including war in Ukraine, and hard and far-right parties have seized on this and offered the electorate an alternative. A similar result was seen in Austrian exit polls, with the far-right FPOe party leading the vote count.

The #netherlands elections…..Be careful not to blame the problems on Geert Wilders Radical Geert Wilders came out of the Dutch elections with a win that surprised even him. Not a great development. However be careful, be very careful not to draw the wrong conclusions: Wilders is a symptom, not the cause. This is just the latest of many signs that the complacent legacy parties, the elites, the analysts in their ivory tower did not read the fears, at times perceived, nevertheless real fears of a very big chunk of the Dutch population. Populists are really good at asking the right questions (then give the wrong answers, mostly). They respond to the people’s fear of the unknown, fear of the present, fear the future. After what happened, no one should deny that radicals on the left feed right into the narrative of the radical right. We see the handshake of extremes. Watch not the ( at times really bad) responses, watch the issues which will not go away. Politicians don’t seem to understand: for a growing number of people the end of the month is a bigger concern than the end of the World. Ideology does not put food on the table, prevent crime, pay the bill. Moderates at the center, left or right, if they are serious about saving democracy, they need to take this to heart. We warned about Vladimir Putin. No one took us seriously. We warned about Viktor Orban. No one took us seriously. Now that it’s on Washington’s, Paris’ , Berlin’s, Brussels’ doorstep…will they take us seriously? While the small Netherlands is an ocean away, we Americans better take note: What happened in Amsterdam will not stay in Amsterdam. #radicalisation #extremism #europeanunion #uselections

🗳️ Yesterday, the Dutch national elections took place. For the first-time, Geert Wilders’ right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV), part of the ID group in the European Parliament, became the biggest party. Meanwhile, former European Commissioner for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans returned from Brussels to head a broad centre-left alliance between the PvdA (S&D) and GreenLeft (Greens/EFA). Timmermans came in second place. The VVD (Renew), party of outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte, disappointingly came third under their new leader Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius, ahead of the new party NSC (likely to join EPP), led by popular Member of Parliament Pieter Omtzigt. 🤔 How do we interpret Wilders’ win? And what could the next Dutch government look like? We have prepared a short overview with the most important takeaways from the Dutch elections and a look at how the developments in The Hague might impact the EU. #elections #NL #Netherlands

As speculations abound about the outcome of the #EuropeanElections , a few fundamentals: 1. The incoming Commission does not need a permanent parliamentary majority to be elected and remain in place. The parliament’s vote takes place in a secret ballot, allowing MEPs to depart from their leaders’ instructions (as some S&D voting against VdL and Pis/5Stars for Vdl in 2019) making it unpredictable by design. 2. The next parliamentary majority will be of ‘variable geometry’ and varies on a case by base basis depending on the file being presented by the new EU Commission 3. The normalization of the far-right hasn’t occurred at EU level - but only party at Member State level. Will the EU elections change that? That’s the question to be asked. https://lnkd.in/deSYVT6K #europeanelections #ep2024 #europe

🇪🇺 Hello Europe! The new survey on the 2024 European elections is out! 🇪🇺🗳 You can see the percentage of votes for each party. 🤔 But what are the most significant updates? Discover everything here 👇 📣 Recent projections by Europe Elects has showed a shifting political landscape in the European Parliament. The liberal Renew Europe group faces a downward trend, and the national-conservative ECR group could overtake as the fourth-largest force, if this trend persists. 🗳 We continue to witness a growing gap between the two major political groups – the socialists (S&D) and the center-right (EPP). The EPP has strengthened its position to 180 seats, while S&D has faced a minor downturn to 140. Compared to projections on January 15, the far-right ID maintains its position as the third-largest force. 👉 Always according the poll, The LEFT and the Greens/EFA parties have improved their positions. National party developments also play a crucial role. In 🇩🇪 Germany, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (LEFT) party enters projections with three seats, while in 🇵🇱 Poland, PiS (ECR) loses ground. In 🇭🇺 Hungary, Fidesz gains two seats, and the Demokratikus Koalíció (S&D) experiences a decrease. 🇪🇺 Our common goal should be to strengthen the European project. And to do this, we need your vote. Europe needs you now. Your vote matters, so use it! 🫵🇪🇺 - Source: Europe Elects #EUelections #EU #elections #UseYourVote #EuropeanUnion #Europe

Great to be back at APCO European Public Affairs today for an insightful lunch session on the EU elections' aftermath with Thomas THALER and Jacob Moroza-Rasmussen. Some nuggets... As it stands, Von der Leyen probably doesn't have the necessary European Parliament votes to be confirmed, as around 50 members of the central bloc of parties won't support her. At least, this is what they're publicly saying. With the ballot being secret, horse-trading with them and others outside the bloc is going at full steam. See her last mandate, when Polish conservatives from PiS were said to have given her their votes in exchange of some positions. On the far right of the hemicycle, groups are being reshuffled and Orban's effort to bring together sovereigntist, Russia-appeasing parties together could succeed - if the Italian Lega confirms its appetite to join, and the AfD already out, would that be the end of the ID group? Will Le Pen join a group that seems to pretty naturally fit the RN's positions? This can become a very significant force in Parliament, but what exactly will these people agree on, except from opposing everything? Well, that's perhaps the point... Speaking of the far right...any French nominee to the Commission will face trouble, unless the National Assembly finds an unlikely agreement. If Macron pushes Breton, the odds are high that Le Pen will try to torpedo his confirmation in the European Parliament by mobilizing allies against him. And if Le Pen ends up taking the lead, and appoints a controversial figure, the reverse will be true.

There has always been a democratic deficit in the EU parliament. Mainly because it has never had a concept of an opposition. Each country merely elects it representatives and sends them to parliament to make the laws which have to be executed by the various governments in their countries - but where is the accountability? The parliament is fractured into too many small groups representing different countries (which are further divided by political parties within those groups). Each level of government has plausible deniability over the impact of these laws on their citizenry - they had no say in the making of the laws. And the EU parliamentarians have plausible deniability in saying that they are too few in numbers in the parliament to exert any power. The governance structure has become so opaque, distant and out of touch with ordinary people and their lives - is it any wonder that people are electing avowedly anti-EU parties to the EU parliament? #EU #news #brexit

Arbeiterkammer in Austria represented in 2019 3,066,270 employees. Those days there is elections in Vienna and other states. Among those 3 millions I’m eligible to vote as well. So I became curious. Following the link you can found out: What was the turnout? Who is long term winner? How the results relates to parliament coalitions? Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with AK, neither with any party. This is my own initiative - get data, make sense out of it, share. There are some links in post explaining what is AK but it’s not the main purpose of the analysis. https://lnkd.in/dpdUVcSi #akwahl #data_analysis #datawrapper