How does voting in Amsterdam work?

On Wednesday, March 18, 2026, people living in the municipality of Amsterdam can cast their votes for the city council and district committees. People who live in Weesp will cast their vote for the City Council and the Weesp Administrative Committee.

What do the city council and committees do?

The city council and district committees help decide what happens in the city. For example, the municipality decides where houses can be built and how you can get benefits. The city districts and the Weesp urban area decide on things like garbage collection and how streets are laid out.

Many different parties participate in elections. The parties competing in city council elections may differ from those competing in district committee elections.

The parties have lists of people you can vote for in the city council and for each district or metropolitan area. These are residents of the city of Amsterdam or of the district or metropolitan area. These people are on a list together because they share the same ideas. You can vote for these people during the elections.

The mayor of Amsterdam is not elected during the elections. After the elections, however, the parties that enter the city council decide which other administrators the mayor will work with. These administrators are called aldermen.

How are the municipality and city districts governed?

The municipality is governed by the City Council. In it sit 45 residents of the municipality of Amsterdam. They decide on proposals made by the mayor and aldermen. If a majority of the City Council votes in favor of a plan, the mayor and aldermen implement the plan.

The city districts are governed by city district committees. The city district of Weesp is governed by an administrative committee. These committees are similar to the city council, but they are smaller. In addition, they decide on different things.

On Wednesday, March 18, 2026, there will be elections for the city council, the district commissions and the administrative committee Weesp. Then, residents of Amsterdam can choose who will sit on the city council, district commissions and administrative committee Weesp for the next four years.

Which people get to vote in Amsterdam?

To vote for City Council, you must be eighteen years of age or older. To vote for your district you must be sixteen years of age or older. Also, to vote for the Weesp Executive Committee, you must be sixteen years of age or older.

In addition, to vote you must be registered with the City of Amsterdam. Non-EU citizens must also have lived legally in the Netherlands for five years or more to vote for the city council. This is shorter for the city district committees and the Weesp administrative committee. To vote for these, you must have been registered in the Netherlands for two years or more.

Dutch citizens and people who have the nationality of a country in the European Union (EU) can always vote. They just have to be old enough.

People from Ukraine who are in the Netherlands based on the Temporary Protection Directive (RTB) are not allowed to vote. They are in the Netherlands temporarily. They are also not allowed to vote if they are in the Netherlands for two years or more.

What do you need to vote?

To vote, you need a voting pass and proof of identity. You will have received the voting passes you need in an envelope from the municipality no later than Saturday, Feb. 28.

Are you sixteen or seventeen years old? Then you have received one voting pass. Also if you are eighteen or older and have lived in the Netherlands for two, three or four years, you have received one voting pass. This voting pass is for your district committee or the Weesp administrative committee.

Valid proofs of identity when voting are a passport, identity card, driver’s license and residence permit.

Who can you vote for?

Members of the city council, district committees and the Weesp administrative committee often belong to a party. A party is a group of people who share approximately the same ideas.

Many different parties participate in elections. The parties have lists of people for the city council and for each district or city area for whom you can vote. Not every party participates in everything. So it may be that a party participates in the elections for your district, but not for the city council.

During elections, you can vote for a party by voting for one of the people on that party’s list. That party will then receive your vote.

Where can you vote?

You can vote at a polling place in your neighborhood. For your district committee, you can only vote at a polling place in your district.

This map shows all polling stations in the municipality of Amsterdam. For each polling station you can see on the map in which district the polling station is located. The polling stations are open on March 18 between 7:30 a.m. and 9 p.m.

What should you do at the polling station?

When you enter a polling place, you see three people sitting behind a table. These people are volunteers who have volunteered to help with the election. To one of them you give your ID and voting card(s).

Your identification card and the voting card or voting passes are checked so that these three people can be sure that you are the person who belongs to the voting card or voting passes. The volunteers also check that the voting card or voting passes are valid.

If everything checks out, you will get back your ID and one or two ballots. The number of ballots corresponds to the number of voting cards you turned in. You will not get the voting cards back.

What do you do with your ballot?

With the ballots, you walk to one of the screened voting booths in the polling place. No one else should be in the voting booth when you vote. This way, no one else knows what you are voting and your vote cannot be influenced. You may come to the polling place with family members or friends, but they are not allowed in the voting booth with you.

In the voting booth, use a red pencil to color in one bullet on each ballot paper. Red pencils are available at the polling station. You do not have to bring them yourself. The ball you color red belongs to the person you want to vote for.

Completed ballots are thrown into a ballot box. This is a sealed container into which everyone throws the ballot paper. This way no one knows afterwards who belongs to which ballot and your vote is kept secret and safe.

Voting is never mandatory. You don’t have to go to a polling station on March 18. No one checks whether or not you vote.

After voting, what happens to your vote?

At nine in the evening, all polling stations in Amsterdam close. Then the counting of votes begins. The sealed bins of votes are opened. Volunteers count the votes inside. This counting is public. If you want, you can be there.

The votes are tallied to determine which lists of people received the most votes. The lists with the most votes get the most spots in the city council, district committees or the Weesp administrative committee. The results of the elections will be announced once all votes have been counted.

The results of the elections are valid for four years. In 2030, there will be new elections for the city council, the city districts and the Weesp administrative committee.