Roel van Cauwenberghe, a Forest and Nature Management student, was seventh on the GroenLinks (green left) list. He got 205 preference votes, which pushed him up to second place. Peter Veldman, a Management, Economics and Consumer Studies student, keeps his seat in the council for D66 (liberal party).
There were more students than ever on the parties’ lists of candidates for these elections. A total of 14 students stood for election to the local council, representing seven different parties. Two of them were able to amass enough votes to succeed in their objective.
The turnout among voters in Wageningen was higher than the national average. Almost 62 percent of Wageningen residents cast a vote, over 4 percent more than in the previous council elections. The big winner was the Stadspartij (local party), with WUR employee Rien Bor heading their list of candidates. PvdA (labour) and VVD (liberal) lost one seat, as did CDA (Christian democrats).
For the first time it was possible to vote in the Forum. Many people made grateful use of this opportunity: 1395 Wageningen residents cast their vote in the teaching building. Most of them were students, both Dutch and international.