The majority of candidate MPs in the March general election are white, university-educated men who live in the central urban Randstad region, Trouw said on Friday.

After the vote on March 15, some two-thirds of the 150 MPs will be white, politically-experienced middle aged men, Trouw’s analysis shows.

The research was carried out by the parliamentary documentation centre at Leiden University. It looked at which people on the party lists are likely to be elected.

The parties are playing safe, researcher Bert van den Braak told the paper. Even the anti-immigration PVV, which continually criticises ‘the elite’ has opted for 65% white, male Randstad-dwellers. On average 62% of candidates live in the central belt.

The percentage of candidates with an ethnic minority background is around 9%, which is a reasonable reflection of society at large. However, just one in three are female and there has been no growth in the number of women MPs for years, Trouw points out.