News of: Wednesday, June 01 2005,
The Dutch have voted massively against the Constitutional Treaty for the European Union.
About 62 percent have voted 'No', 38 percent have voted 'Yes'. Together with the (to Dutch standards) high turn-out of 63.4%, the resounding 'No' vote has baffled politicians and commentators. In the Dutch Parliament 85% of the members is in favour of the treaty.
The voters in Amsterdam are a bit more in favour of ratification: 58% said 'No', 42% said 'Yes'. This seems to be a typical pattern for the larger cities in the Netherlands. Of the 25 largest cities in the Netherlands, only in Utrecht 51% of the voters were in favour.
Parool has a map of Amsterdam with results per burrough. You can move your mouse over each part of the city to see the results. Translation:
- stemgerechtigden = possible voters
- Opkomst = turnout
- Voor = in favour of constitution
- Tegen = against constitution
Amsterdam-Centrum and Amsterdam-Oud Zuid (a.k.a. 'de Pijp') are the only 2 burroughs where a majority voted 'Yes'.
Amsterdam is one of the 5 remaining municipalities where voting still happens with the tradtional red pencil on paper.
Today's referendum was the first referendum in the country in over 200 years.
The Euro currency dropped further today against the US Dollar, to below 1.22 USD for 1 Euro.
