Volt Netherlands

Volt Netherlands Volt Nederland
File:Logo of Volt Netherlands.svg
Abbreviation	Volt
Leader	Laurens Dassen
Chairperson	Emmy Mol (interim)
Founder	Reinier van Lanschot Laurens Dassen
Slogan	"Innovative, Sustainable, European" (Dutch: Vernieuwend, Duurzaam, Europees)
Founded	23 June 2018 (2018-06-23)
Membership  (2023)	12,406
Ideology	Social liberalism Pro-Europeanism European federalism
Political position	Centre
European affiliation	Volt Europa
Colours	Purple
Senate	0 / 75
House of Representatives	2 / 150
Provincial councils	11 / 572
Municipal councils	20 / 8,863
European Parliament	0 / 29
Website
voltnederland.org
Politics of the Netherlands Political parties Elections

Volt Netherlands (Dutch: Volt Nederland, usually simply called Volt) is a social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. It is the Dutch branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level.

History

• Oprichting Volt - speech Reinier van Lanschot (23 juni 2018).webm

  Party foundation

• Wij Zijn Europa - Wij zijn Volt! - Volt Nederland - Europese verkiezingen.webm

  Campaign for the 2019 European Parliament election

Volt Nederland was founded in Utrecht on 23 June 2018, with Reinier van Lanschot as its first chairman. The party owes its start and foundation partly to donations through crowdfunding.

The 2019 European Parliament election was the first election in which Volt took part. The party obtained 106,004 votes in the Netherlands, more than 100,000 votes too few for a seat. The party received most of its votes in university cities, such as Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht and Wageningen. Although the Dutch branch of Volt was unable to obtain a seat in the European Parliament, it is currently represented by the German branch, which won one seat.

In 2021, the party participated in the Dutch general election. On 25 October 2020, the party adopted its candidate list, with Laurens Dassen as the top candidate. At the beginning of 2021, the Electoral Council announced that Volt would participate in all 20 electoral districts. National opinion polling typically excluded the party until six weeks before the election, when their popularity began to rise; a number of polls in the days leading up to election day showed them projected to win up to three seats. Volt ultimately won 2.4% of votes, their best national performance in any election to date, and three seats, marking their first entrance into a national legislature. The three seats of Volt were taken up by Laurens Dassen, Nilüfer Gündoğan, and Marieke Koekkoek. The latter was elected because of individual preference votes.

In February 2022, Gündoğan was expelled from the parliamentary group and suspended from the party after thirteen party members had accused her of undesirable behavior. She filed charges of libel and defamation against Volt, Dassen and the accusers, and challenged the expulsion in civil court. The court reinstated her, ruling that Volt had not followed proper procedure. Dassen apologized. Later Volt appealed the verdict, Dassen and Koekkoek changed its parliamentary rules and Gündoğan was expelled from both the party and the parliamentary group. She did not give up her seat, so she currently sits as an independent.

For the local elections of 2022, 25 local chapters of the party had registered. However, according to party statements, it had failed to achieve gender-equal lists of candidates in some municipalities and was therefore contesting in fewer places than planned.

Electoral results

2019 European Parliament election

Election	EU party	Top candidate	Performance					Rank
			Votes	%	± pp	Seats	+/–
2019	Volt Europa	Reinier van Lanschot	106,004	1.93	New	0 / 26	New	12th

2021 Dutch general election

Election	Lijsttrekker	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
2021	Laurens Dassen	252,480	2.42 (#11)	3 / 150	New	Opposition

2022 local elections

Municipality	Lijsttrekker	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
Amsterdam	Juliet Broersen	13,404	4.3 (#7)	2 / 45	New	Opposition
Arnhem	Niels Scholten	3,042	5 (#9)	2 / 39	New	Coalition
Delft	Kyra Gremmen	1,965	4.6 (#11)	2 / 39	New	Opposition
Eindhoven	Jacco Rubenkamp	4,348	5.6 (#7)	3 / 45	New	Opposition
Enschede	Erik Kemp	2,809	4.9 (#8)	2 / 39	New	Opposition
's-Hertogenbosch	Arjen van Silfhout	2,022	3.3 (#11)	1 / 39	New	Opposition
Maastricht	Jules Ortjens	2,223	4.9 (#9)	2 / 39	New	Coalition
Rotterdam	Imane Elfiali	9,467	4.8 (#7)	2 / 45	New	Opposition
Utrecht	Ruud Maas	8,891	5.6 (#7)	3 / 45	New	Opposition
Zwolle	Cankut Ercan	2,111	3.7 (#10)	1 / 39	New	Opposition

2023 provincial states and electoral college elections

Province	Lijsttrekker	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Drenthe	Marloes Kramer-Hammenga	7,588	2.92 (#12)	1 / 43	New
Gelderland	Elmar Theune	38,545	3.72 (#11)	2 / 55	New
Groningen	Jan Jacob Hilberdink	10,933	3.8 (#12)	1 / 43	New
North Brabant	Inge Vossen – Van Beers	32,034	2.94 (#12)	1 / 55	New
North Holland	Maik de Weerdt	45,476	4.25 (#9)	2 / 55	New
Overijssel	Maryse Wulf	17,540	3 (#12)	1 / 47	New
South Holland	Tessa Beeloo	42,354	2.86 (#15)	1 / 55	New
Utrecht	Amos de Jong	29,740	4.56 (#9)	2 / 49	New

Electoral Colleges	Lijsttrekker	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Expatriates electoral college	Miranda Meijerman	1,991	7.58 (#6)	2 / 25	New