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November 28, 2023 | Marit Severijnse and John Samson
The failure of the House of Representatives elections to take place again in Bonaire is worrying, said MP Anjelica Cicilia. According to her, the Dutch political parties and the local government still have “a lot of work to do” to attract voters to the polls.
The Bonaire Public Entity said turnout in Bonaire was only 23.44%. This is in stark contrast to the 77.8% turnout in the European Netherlands. Acting Deputy Governor Olena expected turnout to double, but turnout was roughly the same as in 2021 (22.8%).
Small campaign on Bonaire
On the streets of Bonaire, the election went almost unnoticed as election posters were barely visible. According to Councillor Cecilia, despite many calls in the local media for people to go to the polls, there was almost no discussion about the elections and political campaigning by national parties. Only the Pirate Party and the BBB actively campaigned.
Cecelia has been on the island for four weeks since becoming an MP. “I’ve talked to a lot of people here and I feel like people don’t know why they’re voting yet. I think we still have a lot of work to do.”
Political parties “deliver on their promises”
From talking to a number of voters in Bonaire, two things seem to play a major role. They value the parties’ “delivered promises” to the islands or what they say about the islands in their election manifestos.
One Bonaire voter agreed after voting that both Bonaire and The Hague had their homework. He said he had to put in a lot of effort to find information. He thought the political parties should do their own work and campaign on the island.
“More information in different languages”
Political positions should also be written in Papiamento, English or Spanish. “The information is there, but it’s in Dutch, and we don’t like reading Dutch very much. It’s easier to reach them in their own language. We also have a lot of Latinos here.”
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