For the first time in its history, D66 can call itself the largest political party in the Netherlands. Although it won by the smallest margin ever, a win is still a win—and TU/e students and staff contributed to that success. Whereas in the previous election GroenLinks–PvdA had been the largest party at the polling station in the university library, this year the clear favorite was Rob Jetten’s party.

Polling station in MetaForum

As in previous years, polling stations were set up in MetaForum. Students, employees, and of course people from outside the university were welcome to cast their votes at one of the two stations located on the first floor. The turnout was strong: a total of 2,348 people voted at these two locations. Three ballots turned out to be invalid, leaving 2,345 valid votes—216 more than during the 2023 elections at this site.

D66 was the clear winner at the polling stations in the library. The party received 867 votes, roughly 37 percent of the total. GroenLinks–PvdA came in second with 518 votes (22 percent), and CDA took third place with 256 votes (11 percent).

At the national level, D66 also emerged as the largest party (17 percent), but with only a narrow lead over runner-up PVV (17 percent). VVD followed as the third-largest party (14 percent).

Rapid rise

This marks a rapid rise for D66. During the previous House of Representatives elections in 2023, D66 ranked only fifth nationwide, with just over six percent of the total vote. The PVV was then the national winner with 23.5 percent.

At the TU/e polling stations, however, D66 was already performing better in 2023. The party was the second-largest there, with just over 15 percent of the votes. The clear winner at that time was GroenLinks–PvdA (37 percent).