The morning after: election euphoria or campaign hangover

The morning following the announcement of the election results on the previous evening, students Vincent Bosch (PVV), Christel Monrooij (CU-SGP) and Elene Walgenbach (D66) look back on months of battling it out on the campaign trail. At the same time they are cautiously looking – with a hangover or not – at what the future will hold.

Newcomer Vincent Bosch (leading candidate for the PVV) gains two seats in the Tholen municipal council.

“I was back in the lecture hall at nine o’clock this morning. Not the ideal situation, but it was necessary, and I was feeling quite pleased. Geert Wilders sent me a text message the evening before saying it was going to be as successful night for us, and that’s what happened: out of nowhere, we’re now the fourth-largest party. Our victory shows that people need a party like the PVV in Tholen. I hope to represent our supporters in the municipal executive and if not, I’ll be the leader of the biggest opposition party. That’s actually not a bad position for me to be able to have an impact on Tholen’s welfare.”

Christel Monrooij (CU-SGP, 2nd place on the list) had hoped for an historic second council seat, but it was not to be.

“Of course I was hoping for a second seat and it’s truly a pity we didn’t succeed. But with one seat we at least have a mandate from Rotterdam’s voters to continue with what the CU-SGP has been doing for the past four years. There are enough winners and losers in this election and I hope that we’re able to form a stable city administration in spite of the political fragmentation. That’s in the city’s best interests and who knows, maybe there’s a role for the ChristenUnie-SGP to play there. We all met up immediately the morning after the elections to map out our strategy for the coming four years. We’ll have to see what my role will be in those plans.

Elene Walgenbach (D66, 5th place on the list) is almost guaranteed a seat in the Rotterdam municipal council.

“I woke up this morning with a hangover, but it was the good kind! It’s easy to appear wise after the event, but before the elections I was kind of counting on four seats. The polls conducted by Maurice de Hond and the exit polls indicated that we would lose seats, but when mayor Aboutaleb announced just before midnight that we actually had five seats, the place went wild. We’ve retained the current number of seats and that means we can really make an impact in Rotterdam. There’s no time to catch our breath: negotiations are set to start right away. It’s now up to Leefbaar Rotterdam, the biggest party in Rotterdam. As long as they have a coalition with Forum voor Democratie, we don’t really see a reason to enter into talks with them.”