The Dutch are voting, and much of the world is watching to see whether far-right populist Geert Wilders will come out on top. But Wilders and his party, the Party for Freedom (PVV), are far from the only force in the election. A record 28 parties are competing for the 150 seats in the lower house of Dutch parliament, known as the Tweede Kamer. In practical terms, this has a very obvious effect on voting day: The Dutch ballots are enormous. So enormous, in fact, that people can’t stop sharing photos of them.
This list of parties includes not only relatively large parties like the PVV or the current government leaders, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), but plenty of smaller parties that have a narrower political view. For example, there is a party dedicated to animal rights (the Party for the Animals; PvdD), another that fights for the rights of pensioners (50PLUS), a new party that targets the votes of immigrants (Denk) and a party that pledges to represent the “non-voters” (Niet Stemmers).
The ballot includes not only the 28 parties, but also their list of candidates — hence its enormity.
Full Article: With 28 parties running, Dutch voters have to use these really huge ballots – The Washington Post.