ABSTRACT
The 355 (2020) Dutch municipalities are governed by a council and a bench that includes a mayor and aldermen. The mayor is selected by the council and chairs both the council and the bench but is a relatively neutral and independent actor. The councils are directly elected every four years with a proportional electoral system. All municipalities hold elections on the same day, and local party systems often reflect the national party system. Because of this, local elections are strongly ‘nationalized’ and are sometimes perceived as national opinion polls. Because municipalities have limited financial and regulatory autonomy, local elections were sometimes seen as less relevant, which contributed to a decline in electoral turnout. Relatively recent changes in the autonomy of municipalities were implemented partly to counter this trend.
