GroenLinks have narrow win in Utrecht, but coalition will be a puzzle
GroenLinks remain the biggest party in the Netherlands’ fourth biggest city Utrecht, with one seat more than D66 who had been hoping for a win.
With 18.5% of the vote, GroenLinks will have nine seats on the 45 seat city council, while D66 will take eight. The VVD are in third place with five seats, and PvdA fourth with four.
Pan-European party Volt will debut with three seats in Utrecht, alongside the CDA and pro-animal PvdD. Far right party Forum voor Democratie failed to win a seat while minority rights campaign group Bij1 won one.
But the top three parties all lost seats, and that means four parties will be needed to form a new coalition. Utrecht is currently ruled by a combination of GroenLinks, D66 and ChristenUnie.
According to the Gelderlander, GroenLinks favours bringing the VVD into the coalition as number four.
Turnout in Utrecht was over 56%, the highest of all the big cities but still down three percentage points from 2018.
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