Dutch elections 2025

What do the political parties want for students, higher education, and science? What are the political preferences of students and staff? Read everything about the Parliamentary elections on 29 October in this special.

At a time when democracies elsewhere are collapsing, it is crucial to reflect on the future of our own politics, writes professor of Philosophy Ronald van Raak. We need to ask questions such as how our democracy has turned into a form of entertainment, with politicians as soap actors caught in ever less believable storylines.

D66, GroenLinks-PvdA and Volt believe education and research should receive billions more. On the other hand, the VVD wants to make the budget cuts even deeper, according to the calculations by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

More than two hundred students filled the pews of the Hoflaankerk for an election debate organised by Ichthus . In a hall full of young voters, Mirjam Bikker – lead candidate of the ChristenUnie – was the undisputed main guest.

What are students voting for? What do the political preferences at Erasmus University look like? Which election issues matter most on campus? EM created a poll. Here are the results:

In their election manifestos, some political parties loudly proclaim how important education and research are to them. Others are a bit more restrained.

Despite not being able to vote in the Netherlands, international students are directly affected by the outcome of the elections. Chris Aalberts, a lecturer in political communication, journalist, EM columnist and political junkie, answers all questions international students have about the upcoming Dutch elections.

EM TV shares an overview of the most important news from the election week.

Election manifestos are full of wonderful words, but what did political parties actually do when push came to shove? How did they vote on issues like English-taught education, discrimination and internship pay?

Two thousand students attended the party leader debate, organised by Eenvandaag and the EFR faculty association in Ahoy. In Rotterdam-Zuid, six political leaders went head-to-head. “It was mostly just a lot of shouting.”

In the run-up to the elections, remarkably few people seemed to know who to vote for. The reason is fairly obvious: politicians today lack a coherent ideology and have become unpredictable. Here is a voting advice from Chris Aalberts for 2029.

In Rotterdam alone, hundreds of volunteers are ready on election day, to help thousands of voters at 331 polling stations. The morning shift at polling station 668 in the RSC/RVSV society in Kralingen is enthusiastic.

In the provisional election result, D66 and PVV won the exact same amount of seats. A large D66 could be good news for the future of higher education and science.

Locally the gap between PVV and D66 is huge. D66 received 36 percent of all votes at the polling station in the Langeveld Building. The PVV received less than 2 percent. D66 also came out on top at the polling stations at Erasmus MC, Erasmus University College and RSC/RVSV.