Politics
| Party | seats | change from 2006 |
|---|---|---|
| GroenLinks (Greens) | 8 | +2 |
| PvdA (Labor) | 8 | -3 |
| D66 (Liberal Democrats) | 6 | +4 |
| SP (Socialists) | 5 | -2 |
| VVD (Liberals) | 4 | - |
| CDA (Christian-Democrats) | 3 | -2 |
| VSP | 2 | +1 |
| Gewoon Nijmegen | 2 | +1 |
| Nijmegen Nu | 1 | - |
| Stadspartij | 0 | -1 |
The city council has 39 seats. After the 2002 municipal elections, the three major parties, GroenLinks (9 seats), PvdA (8 seats) and SP (6 seats) formed a coalition. Because these are all left-wing parties, Nijmegen received the nickname 'Havana on the Waal'. Although such majorities are no exception (compare Amsterdam) and sometimes also form coalitions (see Muntendam), this is unusual for a city this size. Since such a left-wing coalition might be possible at a national level after the 2006 general election, the achievements of this council are often scrutinised. After the 2006 municipal election such a coalition became possible in many more municipalities, making the example even more interesting.
The municipal elections of 7 March 2006 saw an increase of 4,6% of the votes for these three parties taken together, which could be seen as increased support for the coalition. However, nationally these parties scored much better, recovering from an electoral blow of the 2002 elections. Then again, the Leefbaar parties that caused the loss then and lost most of their votes this time have no branch in Nijmegen, which makes this comparison less valid. Among the three big parties, there was a shift from GroenLinks, who lost 6.5%, to PvdA, who won 6.4% and SP, who won 2.3%. As a result it is no longer the biggest party. The seat assignment is now as shown in the table. The three-party coalition was returned to office.
After the 2010 Dutch municipal election, the PvdA lost three of its eleven seats. Short before the elections, there were problems with the SP. Therefore, GroenLinks and the PvdA formed a coalition with the social-liberal D66.
Read more about this topic: Nijmegen
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