GroenLinks Delft city councillors Catherine bij de Vaate and Sinan Özkaya gave a presentation in English to Delft internationals about the council election process. They also explained what GroenLinks stands for and received feedback on what matters to internationals in Delft. The audience was diverse: Greek, Indian, Taiwanese, Turkish, Italian, American, British, French, Iranian and German. Some had been here for many years.
The question of eligibility of internationals to vote was central: you may vote or become candidate if you are 18 years old or older on the day of the election, you are registered with the municipality and come from the European Union. If coming from outside the European community, you must have been registered without interruption for at least 5 years. You must be eligible to vote in your own country as well.
The speakers explained who among the council, commissions and `College` had the executive and legislative power. It was also clarified that these elections did not elect a mayor. The role of the mayor and how he or she was appointed was mentioned.
The presentation included a chart with all political parties in Delft and showed which formed the coalition. The majority of attendees were not familiar with the names of local parties nor their programmes. There was an interesting ensuing question about rough equivalents of Delft political parties and those in other countries. The conclusion was that parties were not really the same, that for example the Green parties in Germany and France may be different than in The Netherlands. The audience was curious about whether city councillors and aldermen were paid.
The public was also very interested in the explanation of the actual process of receiving a stempas (voting pass), what it looked like and when to expect it and who to call if it did not come but should have. They learnt where to vote in the city or arrange for a procuration if they cannot be in town that day. It was surprising to some that it was one person you voted for, not only the party. The concept of voorkeur stemmen was mentioned. This means that if a candidate lower on the list gets a lot of preference votes he or she will also be elected.
The audience was very curious about GroenLinks Delft’s programme and goals achieved in the last 4 years. Time was running short and people mentioned interest in another presentation to discuss GroenLinks Delft’s social and green goals and how they support internationals.
People were invited to share their needs and priorities for Delft, they did so on Post-Its and chatting with candidates during informal drinks. Their needs clearly pointed towards having public information in English about their rights to vote and having a way to compare parties’ programmes. An expat desk was requested by a couple of participants, more information in English about all taxes, specific questions about parking policy in the centre and dog poop free parks for children were other points of concern.
City councillors Catherine bij de Vaate and Sinan Özkaya are planning more presentations for internationals in Delft.