The preliminary results of the Dutch municipal elections held on March 18 are in, and for the cannabis sector the picture is encouraging. Across the country's major cities, parties that support cannabis legalization or a progressive coffeeshop policy have held or gained ground, suggesting that local cannabis policy will remain stable or improve in the years ahead.
National turnout reached 53.7%, a notable increase compared to the 2022 municipal elections. Counting is still ongoing in some municipalities and definitive results will follow in the coming days, but the overall direction is clear.
Amsterdam: Pro-Cannabis Coalition Keeps Majority
The result that matters most for the Dutch coffeeshop landscape is Amsterdam. GroenLinks emerged as the city's largest party with 17.9% of the vote and 10 seats, a gain of two compared to 2022. D66 came in second with 16.1% and 8 seats, gaining one. PvdA finished third with 14.1% and 7 seats, losing two.
All three parties are rated A on the Cannabis-Kieswijzer energy label, meaning they support full cannabis legalization including possession and home cultivation. Together, they hold 25 of the 45 seats in the Amsterdam municipal council, a comfortable majority that allows their coalition to continue governing. For Amsterdam's coffeeshops, this means policy continuity and a cannabis-friendly city government for the next four years.
The VVD, rated C (open to possible legalization), gained one seat to reach 6. BIJ1, also rated A, returned to the council with 2 seats after internal splits had caused the party to lose its representation during the previous term. JA21 and Volt each maintained their 2 seats, while Forum voor Democratie and CDA held on to 1 seat each. Turnout in Amsterdam was 47.3%, slightly up from 46.6% in 2022.
Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Other Major Cities
In Rotterdam, GroenLinks-PvdA (running as a merged party) won the election with 11 seats, narrowly beating Leefbaar Rotterdam which also secured 11 seats. The progressive fusion party gained 2 seats compared to the combined 2022 results, strengthening the position of a cannabis-friendly major party in the Netherlands' second largest city.
In Utrecht, GroenLinks-PvdA became the largest party with 12 seats, while D66 followed with 9 seats, gaining one. Notably, PVV, rated E on the energy label for wanting to end the wietexperiment and tighten tolerance policy, lost its only seat and was eliminated from the Utrecht council entirely. The same happened to the SP.
In Nijmegen, GroenLinks surged from 9 to 11 seats, with D66 growing from 6 to 7. In The Hague, Hart voor Den Haag became the largest party with 16 seats. In Almere, one of the wietexperiment municipalities, GroenLinks-PvdA became the biggest party with 8 seats, though FvD and JA21 also made significant gains.
FvD Enters Over 100 Municipal Councils
One of the most striking national trends was the rise of Forum voor Democratie (FvD). The party, also rated A on the Cannabis-Kieswijzer for supporting full legalization, entered more than 100 municipal councils, including 57 where it previously had zero seats. Its biggest gain was in Velsen, North Holland, where it became the largest party with 8 seats, four times more than in 2022.
While FvD's growth is primarily driven by other policy positions, its strong pro-legalization stance on cannabis means that the party's presence in more than 100 councils adds another voice in favor of cannabis reform at the local level.
Local Parties Dominate Smaller Municipalities
Outside the major cities, the elections were dominated by local parties, which collectively won the most seats across the country. In smaller municipalities, national party labels carry less weight, and local issues like housing, infrastructure, and community facilities tend to drive the vote. For cannabis policy in these areas, the outcomes are more mixed and harder to predict without analyzing each municipality individually.
The Cannabis-Kieswijzer analyzed parties in seven key municipalities in detail: Amsterdam, Den Haag, Deventer, Hoogeveen, Leeuwarden, Noordoostpolder, and Voorne aan Zee. For voters in the remaining 333 municipalities, the site provides guidance on how to assess local parties' cannabis positions.
What It Means for Coffeeshops
The municipal council determines whether a city has coffeeshops, how many are allowed, and how strictly local drug policy is enforced. With cannabis-friendly parties performing well in the major urban centers, the outlook for coffeeshop policy is positive. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Nijmegen, and other large cities are all likely to maintain or strengthen their current approach.
Coalition negotiations will now begin across all 340 municipalities to form new local governments. These talks will ultimately determine the exact composition of each city's college of mayor and aldermen, and by extension, the direction of local cannabis policy for the next four years. But based on the preliminary results, the trajectory is encouraging for the Dutch cannabis sector.
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