2018 Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act referendum

2018 Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act referendum

after-content-x4 Choice Votes % For 3,122,628 46.53% Against 3,317,496 49.44% Blank votes 270,288 4.03% Valid votes 6,710,412 99.65% Invalid votes 23,813 0.35% Total votes 6,734,225 100.00% Eligible to vote/turnout 13,064,932 51.54%

Results by municipality   For   Against

An advisory referendum on the Intelligence and Security Services Act 2017 (Dutch: Wet op de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten 2017, abbreviated ‘Wiv’) was held in the Netherlands on 21 March 2018, alongside the municipal elections. It was the second referendum to be held under the Dutch Advisory Referendum Act after the 2016 Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum.

A plurality of voters (49.44%) voted against the law, resulting in its rejection. Voter turnout was 51.5%, above the 30% threshold for validation of the result.^[1] Although the referendum itself was non-binding, Prime Minister Mark Rutte had promised to take a potential “no” vote into account prior to the referendum.^[2]

Background[edit]

The draft Intelligence and Security Agencies Act 2017 was laid before the States General by the Government of the Netherlands at the end of 2016. On 14 February 2017, a majority in the House of Representatives voted in support of the act,^[3] which was then approved in the Senate on 11 July.^[4] Although a referendum will be held, the government has indicated it plans for the law to nevertheless to go into effect on 1 May 2018.^[5]

Request[edit]

Stage	Required	Received	Valid
Preliminary requests	10,000	19,266	17,162[6]
Definitive requests	300,000	417,354	384,126[7]

A campaign to obtain sufficient support declarations for a referendum was initiated by a group of students at the University of Amsterdam concerned about the sweeping surveillance powers granted to the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) under the law.^[5] On 1 November 2017, the Electoral Council (Kiesraad) announced that a sufficient number of signatures had been collected to trigger an advisory referendum on the tapping law, with 384,126 valid signatures, over 92 percent of those collected, well above the 300,000 required for a referendum.^[8]

Party positions[edit]

The referendum comes after the formation of the Third Rutte cabinet following the 2017 general election,^[8] with the coalition divided whether to hold a referendum on the law, Democrats 66 (D66) being the only one of the four coalition parties that voted against disregarding the result ahead of the referendum.^[9]

The party positions listed below are based on the vote of the law in the House of Representatives on 14 February 2017, with the exception of Forum for Democracy (FvD), which was not represented in the lower chamber before the 2017 general election.^[10]

* PVV announced that even though they voted in favour, they would respect the outcome of the referendum.

Opinion polls[edit]

Vote in referendum[edit]

Support for the law[edit]

Polling firm	Date	For	Against	Don’t know	Lead
GfK	31 Oct 2017	34	53	13	19
GfK	23 Oct 2017	40	49	11	9

Results[edit]

Choice	Votes	%
For	3,122,628	46.53
Against	3,317,496	49.44
Blank	270,288	4.03
Invalid votes	23,813	–
Total	6,734,225	100
Registered voters/turnout	13,064,932	51.54
Source: Kiesraad

Results by province or territory[edit]

Province or territory	Electorate	Voter turnout	In favour		Against		Blank
			Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Drenthe	387,611	54.16	99,787	47.72	100,850	48.23	8,472	4.05
Flevoland	297,206	50.28	67,377	45.24	77,168	51.81	4,390	2.95
Friesland	504,855	42.80	97,594	45.30	111,049	51.55	6,779	3.15
Gelderland	1,602,016	54.19	415,207	48.01	411,924	47.63	37,737	4.36
Groningen	458,131	37.22	61,200	35.97	105,009	61.72	3,916	2.30
Limburg	873,201	50.23	206,901	47.33	209,891	48.02	20,310	4.65
North Brabant	1,947,973	48.43	469,115	49.90	430,932	45.84	40,032	4.26
North Holland	2,075,436	52.87	453,840	41.51	598,606	54.75	40,927	3.74
Overijssel	882,344	56.92	247,309	49.41	230,930	46.14	22,311	4.46
Utrecht	969,421	57.65	253,208	45.46	278,935	50.08	24,863	4.46
Zeeland	291,514	56.70	88,950	54.02	69,174	42.01	6,536	3.97
South Holland	2,760,065	51.22	661,822	47.00	692,443	49.17	54,009	3.84
Caribbean Netherlands	15,159	6.06	318	34.98	585	64.36	6	0.66
Source: Kiesraad

References[edit]

External links[edit]