Turks in The Netherlands - Politics

Politics

Turks generally support parties on the left (PvdA, D66, GroenLinks, and SP) over parties on the right (CDA, VVD and SGP). In the past, migrants were not as eager to vote, however they are now aware that they can become a decisive factor in the Dutch political system. There has been some criticisms that certain parties (such as the Social Democrats) are becoming the parties of migrants because of the votes they receive from migrants and the increase in the number of elected Turkish candidates. During the Dutch general election (2002), there were 14 candidates of Turkish origin spread out over six party lists which encouraged 55% of Turks to vote, which was a much higher turnout than any other ethnic minorities.