A Sleeping Giant Wakes Up

The reason is straightforward arithmetic. On Wednesday, 18 March 2026, municipal elections (gemeenteraadsverkiezingen) will take place in 342 municipalities across the Netherlands, determining the composition of each city council for the next four years. In an increasingly fragmented political landscape where a few hundred votes in a district can tip the balance of an entire coalition, the hundreds of thousands of eligible international voters represent a force no serious party can afford to ignore.

This guide covers everything you need to know — from whether you are legally eligible to vote, to how the Dutch electoral system works, to which parties are actively pitching their platforms to international residents and why the issues at stake this March hit close to home for anyone living and working in the Netherlands as a foreigner.

Who Can Vote? Eligibility Rules for International Residents

The single biggest misconception among the international community in the Netherlands is the belief that only Dutch citizens can vote. For national elections (Tweede Kamer), that is correct. But for municipal elections, the rules are fundamentally different — and far more inclusive.

According to the Dutch Electoral Council (Kiesraad), the requirements for voting in the 18 March 2026 municipal elections are as follows:

• EU Citizens: If you hold the passport of any European Union member state and are registered as a resident in a Dutch municipality, you can vote. There is no minimum residency period. The moment you are registered at your local city hall (gemeente), you are entitled to cast a ballot in the city council election.
• Non-EU Citizens: If you are a national of a non-EU country — including the United Kingdom, the United States, India, Turkey, or any other country outside the EU — you can vote provided you have legally and continuously resided in the Netherlands for at least five years and hold a valid residence permit. The five-year continuous residency requirement was calculated as of 2 February 2026 for this election cycle.

Who is not eligible: Tourists, short-term visitors, and individuals registered only through the RNI (non-resident records) system are not eligible to vote.

One important practical note: if you meet the eligibility criteria and are properly registered in your municipality, you do not need to take any additional steps to register as a voter. The municipality will automatically send a stempas (voting pass) to your home address. In Amsterdam and The Hague, these were being sent out between 24 February and 1 March 2026. If you do not receive your voting pass or if it is lost, you can request a replacement — the written deadline for The Hague was 13 March 2026, and the in-person deadline was 17 March 2026 at 12:00.

On election day, polling stations are open from 07:30 to 21:00. To vote, bring your stempas and a valid form of identification. Accepted documents include Dutch passports and ID cards, EU passports and identity cards, Norwegian, Icelandic and Liechtenstein documents, Swiss identity documents, and Netherlands-issued residence permits. Notably, expired documents are accepted as long as the expiry date is within five years of the election date.

How the Dutch Municipal Electoral System Works

Understanding what you are actually voting for is as important as knowing whether you can vote. The Netherlands uses a proportional representation system for municipal council elections. Voters cast their ballot for a specific candidate on a party’s list, but seats are allocated proportionally based on the total votes each party receives.

Because no single party ever secures an outright majority in the Netherlands, post-election coalition (coalitie) negotiations are the norm. After the votes are counted, parties begin the often lengthy process of forming a governing coalition that commands a majority of seats in the city council. This is why even smaller parties and marginal seat gains matter enormously — every seat is a chip at the coalition table.

Municipal councils (gemeenteraden) vary in size depending on the population of the municipality. The largest — those serving cities with more than 200,000 residents, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht — have 45 council members. The smallest municipalities have councils of just 9 members.

The council itself does not govern day to day. That role belongs to the college van burgemeester en wethouders (the municipal executive, consisting of the mayor and aldermen), which is responsible for carrying out decisions. The mayor is appointed by the national government, while the aldermen (wethouders) are drawn from the coalition parties. When you vote on 18 March, you are determining which parties and which candidates will sit on the council and, by extension, which parties will likely form the governing coalition and choose the aldermen who will run the city.

The Political Landscape: Which Parties Are Courting International Voters?

While virtually all Dutch parties include some nod to inclusion in their platforms, three parties in the 2026 campaign have made a particularly systematic and visible effort to reach the international community.

D66 (Democrats 66)

D66 has long been considered the default home of the Dutch expat vote, and the party is doubling down on that position in 2026. Ideologically, D66 occupies the centre to centre-left of the Dutch political spectrum, combining social liberalism with a strong pro-European outlook. The party campaigns on expanding English-language services at municipal offices, keeping international schools accessible, and protecting the business and innovation climate that draws knowledge migrants to the Netherlands. D66 is especially popular among university-educated voters in major cities, and its local chapters in Amsterdam, The Hague, and Eindhoven have established dedicated “International Chapters” to engage directly with foreign residents.

In the October 2025 national elections, D66 achieved its best-ever general election result, winning 26 seats — tied with PVV as the largest party by seats but ahead on total vote share. D66 leader Rob Jetten subsequently led coalition negotiations and is set to become Prime Minister, heading a minority government formed together with VVD and CDA, a political tailwind that is boosting the party’s local profile heading into March 2026.

GroenLinks–PvdA (GreenLeft–Labour)

The alliance between GroenLinks (GreenLeft) and PvdA (Labour Party) has been in the making for years, with both parties running joint lists in dozens of municipalities since 2022. Following internal referendums in June 2025 in which 89.1% of GroenLinks members and 88.0% of PvdA members voted in favour, the two parties are in the process of formally merging into a single new party in 2026. Their pitch to expats is built around tenant rights and housing affordability. The core message — that international residents are being exploited by landlords just as much as Dutch locals — resonates in a market where private free-sector rents have risen sharply and available listings have plummeted. In cities like Amsterdam, where the number of available rental properties dropped from roughly 7,000 listings per quarter to approximately 2,500, the housing crisis is a viscerally felt daily reality for expats and Dutch residents alike. GroenLinks–PvdA organizes “Expat Housing Rights” events in major cities and campaigns on stricter buy-to-let regulations.

Volt Netherlands

Volt is arguably the most structurally international-friendly party in Dutch politics, and that is by design. As the Dutch chapter of the pan-European Volt Europa movement — which operates with a unified programme across more than 31 countries — Volt treats EU residents as equal citizens by default, not as a special interest group to be occasionally appealed to. The party has been organizing English-language events and debates targeting the more than 800,000 EU citizens living in the Netherlands who are eligible to vote in local elections. Volt supports expanding English as a working language in municipal services, champions civic participation from non-Dutch residents, and prioritizes a deeply European identity in its policies on housing, sustainability, and transport. The party holds one seat in the national parliament and two seats in the European Parliament, and has been steadily building its presence in municipal councils across cities including Arnhem, Eindhoven, Utrecht, Rotterdam, and Delft — with Arnhem being the only municipality where Volt is currently part of the governing coalition, as one of six coalition partners.

The Issues That Matter Most to International Voters in 2026

The municipal agenda for March 2026 is dominated by several issues that intersect directly with the daily lives of expats and international residents.

The Housing Crisis

No issue looms larger. The Netherlands faces a housing shortfall estimated at over 300,000 homes, with the government’s own Ministry of Housing calculating that 900,000 new homes are needed by 2030 to match demand. In Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Eindhoven — the cities where most expats are concentrated — the rental market is operating under severe stress. Free-sector rental listings in Dutch cities stay on the market for an average of just 18 days, reflecting extraordinary competition among tenants. Average rent per square metre across the Netherlands has reached approximately €21–22 per month, with Amsterdam and Utrecht significantly above that figure. In Amsterdam’s most sought-after neighbourhoods, two-bedroom apartments in the free sector regularly exceed €2,500 per month.

The key question for city councils in 2026 is what municipalities can actually do within their legal powers. Options debated include stricter enforcement of self-occupancy rules (selfbewoningsplicht) that require buyers to live in properties they purchase, limiting buy-to-let investment in certain areas, expanding social housing stock, and working with the national government on rent regulation. For expats who frequently find themselves competing in the most expensive, least regulated segment of the market, the positions parties take on housing policy are among the most consequential they will encounter on any ballot.

International Education

The waiting lists for international schools in Amsterdam, The Hague, and Eindhoven stretch to several years in some cases, a bottleneck that affects the life decisions of thousands of families with children. Parties including D66 and Volt are campaigning on municipal investment in bilingual public education as a way to relieve the pressure on dedicated international schools. The argument is that expanding English-medium or bilingual programmes within the regular Dutch public school system can both serve international families and strengthen the language skills of Dutch children — a political frame that makes the policy more palatable across the ideological spectrum.

Bureaucracy and Bilingual Municipal Services

A recurring frustration among expats — and one that translates directly into political demand — is the inaccessibility of municipal services in Dutch only. From parking permit applications to waste collection schedules, many city hall interactions remain exclusively Dutch-language experiences. In a country where 90% of jobs are estimated to be suitable for English speakers and where international talent is considered essential to the economy, the gap between the professional use of English and the municipal experience in Dutch strikes many residents as a fundamental contradiction. Parties like Volt and D66 are explicitly campaigning on expanding bilingual municipal service provision, while other parties are more cautious about the symbolic and practical implications of elevating English to an official or semi-official status at the local level.

The 30% Ruling and the Knowledge Economy

While the 30% tax ruling — which allows qualifying expat workers to receive a portion of their salary tax-free — is a national policy matter beyond the scope of municipal elections, its fate shapes the broader political relationship between international talent and Dutch society. The new D66-VVD-CDA coalition government formed in January 2026 confirmed in its coalition agreement (“Aan de slag”) that the 30% ruling will remain intact, a decision that signals continued institutional support for attracting international knowledge workers. At the municipal level, the related debate is about whether cities should be competing for this talent through quality of services, housing, and education, or whether rapid growth in the international population is contributing to housing and infrastructure pressures that harm longer-term residents.

How to Vote: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide

If you have confirmed your eligibility and want to vote on 18 March 2026, the process is straightforward:

1. Step 1 — Check your registration. Confirm that you are correctly registered in your municipality (gemeente). Your registration in the BRP (Basisregistratie Personen, the population register) is what determines your eligibility and ensures you receive a voting pass.
2. Step 2 — Wait for your stempas. If you are eligible, your municipality will automatically send a voting pass to your registered address. Amsterdam was sending these out between 24 February and 1 March 2026.
3. Step 3 — Use StemWijzer or Kieskompas. These free online tools launched ahead of the election allow you to answer a series of policy statements and see which parties’ positions most closely align with your views. StemWijzer offers a national platform, while Kieskompas is available in select municipalities.
4. Step 4 — Find your polling station. You can vote at any polling station in your municipality on election day. Polling stations are open from 07:30 to 21:00.
5. Step 5 — Bring your stempas and ID. At the polling station, hand in your stempas and show your valid ID. You will receive a paper ballot, mark it with the red pencil (rood potlood) next to your preferred candidate, fold it, and deposit it in the ballot box. Results are typically available on the evening of election day.

✅ CTA: Your Election Day Checklist

Make sure you are ready for March 18th. Use this quick checklist to ensure your vote counts.

Why This Election Matters More Than the Last One

The 2026 municipal elections are taking place in an unusually significant national political context. The October 2025 snap elections — called after the collapse of the Schoof cabinet over asylum policy disputes — produced a political reset, with D66 winning its best-ever national result and forming a new minority government with VVD and CDA. The new national government is watching closely to see whether its centre-liberal positioning translates into local gains for its coalition partners.

At the same time, the years since the last municipal elections in 2022 have seen the expat population in the Netherlands grow substantially, housing pressures intensify, the international school squeeze worsen, and political parties grow significantly more sophisticated in their outreach to non-Dutch residents. English-language debates, dedicated international party branches, and multilingual campaign materials that were novelties four years ago are now becoming standard features of local political campaigns in every major Dutch city.

For the international community, this election is an opportunity that did not exist in the same form four years ago: a chance to vote in significant numbers, on issues that directly affect daily life, at a moment when political parties are genuinely listening. Whether that opportunity is seized or squandered will say a great deal about how municipalities across the Netherlands choose to treat their international residents in the four years that follow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I vote if I am not an EU citizen?

Yes, if you have legally and continuously resided in the Netherlands for at least five years and hold a valid residence permit, you are eligible to vote in municipal elections regardless of nationality.

Do I need to register separately to vote?

No. If you are registered in your municipality’s population register (BRP) and meet the eligibility requirements, a voting pass (stempas) will automatically be sent to your address.

Can I vote in national (Tweede Kamer) elections?

No. Voting in Tweede Kamer elections requires Dutch citizenship. Municipal elections have separate, more inclusive rules.

What if I do not receive my stempas?

Contact your municipality. In The Hague, for example, replacements could be requested in writing until 13 March and in person until 17 March 2026.

When and where do I vote?

Election day is Wednesday, 18 March 2026. Polling stations are open from 07:30 to 21:00. You can vote at any polling station in your municipality.

Conclusion

The Dutch municipal elections on 18 March 2026 represent a genuine and concrete opportunity for the hundreds of thousands of eligible international residents in the Netherlands to shape the future of the cities they call home. The issues on the ballot — housing, international education, bilingual services, and the conditions that make the Netherlands a welcoming place to live and work — are not abstract policy debates. They are the conditions of daily life. Political parties are paying attention. The question is whether the international community will show up to make their voice heard.

🇳🇱 Dutch Learning Corner: Election Edition