- Student
- 18/03/2026
Students advise politicians to step outside city hall
In municipal elections, voters can only cast their vote with a red dot. Cursor gives students around the polling station in MetaForum the chance to share a more detailed message with politicians. What tips do they have for Eindhoven’s city council?
For some students, this Wednesday, March 18, marks the first time they are allowed to vote—and for two friends, both Mechanical Engineering students, it takes some getting used to. They have been living in the Netherlands since September. “Do I need a pen?” asks the Romanian student. “Is it only today?” wonders the Serbian student. He left his voting pass at home and is unsure whether he will try again later. “My experience in my home country makes me have little trust in politicians.”
For his friend, it’s different: “If governing Eindhoven doesn’t go well, it won’t be because I didn’t vote. Then it’s not on me!” he says after using the red pencil. For information, he used an English-language voting guide and read articles on TLDR News.
“Be more empathetic”
Samir Saïdi, who holds a passport from the United Arab Emirates, has been living in the Netherlands for nearly six years and is therefore also voting in municipal elections for the first time. EU citizens registered with the municipality can vote immediately, while non-EU citizens only gain this right after five years of legal residence.
The master’s student in Computer Science has advice for politicians: “Show more empathy. You are responsible for everyone in the municipality. Don’t talk about an asylum seekers’ center as if it’s just an object—remember that people who are seeking asylum have to live there. I think voter turnout would be higher if voters saw more humanity.”
Third-year Biomedical Engineering student Lucas van de Graaff fully agrees. He also believes it would benefit politicians themselves to have more contact with citizens. “Make yourselves visible—step out from behind your desks at city hall. Don’t just campaign around elections, but listen year-round to what people are experiencing. It will also make your work more enjoyable and interesting. Then you hear what you’re doing it for.”
This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor
Thirty-meter rule
Polling station member Lars van Rijckevorsel, a master’s student in Data Science, feels that student life is not a priority for Eindhoven politicians. “I notice there’s little attention for students in party programs. I also don’t know any students who are on the candidate lists. [That could have been the case, see this video, ed.]. On my social media, I saw videos from student parties in Delft and Leiden, but that doesn’t help me in Eindhoven.”
Another criticism, from Electrical Engineering master’s student and polling station member Lars Doornbos, concerns Eindhoven’s thirty-meter rule. He advises municipal politicians to take another close look at it—and preferably abolish it. “I know parents who wanted to buy a house for their children and friends to rent out student rooms. But they couldn’t find anything because such a house requires a permit. You only get that if it’s more than thirty meters away from another student house. That really clashes with the student housing shortage and the construction plans TU/e and the municipality keep talking about.”
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