It is not illegal in the Netherlands to take a self portrait photograph in a voting booth, a court in The Hague said on Friday

The craze for taking ‘stemfies’ (vote selfies) took hold at the local elections in March and was actively encouraged by several politicians. Home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk said he saw ‘no problem’ with the photography.

Citizens’ rights organisation PBB took the issue to court, pointing out that in many countries it is illegal to take pictures in polling stations.

Mafia

‘In Italy, for example, it is illegal because the mafia was forcing people to take pictures of their votes,’ the organisation’s lawyer Douwe Linders is quoted as saying during the court hearing just over a week ago.

The court said that while the disadvantages of taking ballot box photos outweighed the advantages, that did not mean the practice should be banned.

The European elections take place on May 22.