DUTCH FARMER’S PARTY WINS IN SENATE

AMSTERDAM, March 15 (Reuters) – A farmers’ protest party called The BBB or BoerBurgerBeweging (Farmer-Citizen Movement) party emerged as the big WINNER in Netherland’s provincial elections that determines the make-up of the Senate.  Now they are the majority! 

What started as protests against the government’s environmental policies won more Senate seats than Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party.  

A first exit poll projected BBB won 15 of a total of 75 seats in the Senate, which has the power to block legislation agreed in the Lower House of parliament, with the VVD dropping from 12 to 10 seats.

The rise of BBB is a major blow for Rutte’s governing coalition and casts doubt over the goal to drastically cut nitrogen pollution on farms, the single issue upon which BBB was founded in 2019.

“Nobody can ignore us any longer,” says BBB leader Caroline van der Plas “Voters have spoken out very clearly against this government’s policies.”