Are you in a hurry and still have some questions about the European Parliament elections in Maastricht? No worries! Here’s all the answers you are looking for:
All citizens of the European Union have the right to vote either in the state they are a citizen of or in which they reside.
Because the successful candidates will be literally deciding over your and our future. And it makes a difference everywhere: How expensive should your food be? Should we do anything about climate change? Do you think travelling by train should be cheaper or more expensive? … If you don’t participate, you give your vote to those whom you don’t want to have it. Simple maths.
- Citizens who are 18 years or older on 23.05.2019,
- Have EU citizenship, and
- Were registered in the Maastricht voting registry as of 10.04.2019
Polling stations open at 07.30 and close at 21.00.
Exceptions:
(1) In the Theater aan het Vrijthof you can only vote until 18.00.
(2) In the Shopping Centre Brusselse Poort you can only vote from 08.30 on.
(3) At the central train station Maastricht you can vote from 06.30-20.00.
Great! You can find out more at one of our JEF Maastricht events. Or find out more online: Both This Time I’m Voting and european-elections.eu are the official information channels of the European Parliament itself; next to that there’s a plenitude of information on the websites of newspapers, parties, and voting campaigns.
If you are really stuck, you might want to check POLITICO Europe or Euractiv out! For up-to-date perspectives from young people from all over Europe we recommend reading The New Federalist. For seeing the lead candidates debating each other, we recommend watching the Maastricht Debate, one of this year’s biggest events of European democracy!
You can also quickly take part in one of many voting guides (see below). If you want to hear some opinions from Maastricht itself, we recommend you the Maastricht Diplomat’s Podcast episode on the European Parliament elections.
Remember: In the Netherlands, you vote for a specific candidate on a party list. You can find a lot of information on the candidates on their websites and social media profiles and form your own opinion there! Here’s the names of all candidates.
Voting Guides
The Stemwijzer is the Netherlands’ most famous voting guide. It compares your answers to positions which the different parties have given to 30 questions in total.
Available in Dutch and English.
The Jongerenkieswijzer has been developed by the Dutch national youth council and focuses on topics which are of particular importance to young people.
Available in Dutch.
The project Your Vote Matters is based on real data from the European Parliament provided by VoteWatch. You can check which MEPs from which parties in Europe voted the closest to your preference in the past five years.
Available in English and further languages.
The StemChecker is a project developed by the newspaper De Volkskrant, likewise based on data by VoteWatch. Instead of comparing your answers to positions which the parties have given, they compare your answers to the actual voting behaviour of the parties in the European Parliament in the past years.
Available in Dutch.
The EU and I guide has been developed under a project of the European University Institute in Florence and compares your preferences with political parties from all across Europe.
Available in Dutch and English.
The VoteSwiper is unfortunately not featuring Dutch parties (yet), but maybe it’s something for your international friends: User-friendly you can swipe through the positions and afterwards see on a radar which parties love you the most!
Where to vote in Maastricht
We know that going through a long list with addresses isn’t fun. That’s why we created a map for you. Use it and share it with your friends to find out where your closest voting office is! Don’t forget to take your ID and your Stempas with you!
Download and print this document
Share this article with your friends from Maastricht and spread the word! Do you prefer a downloadable and printable version of this document? Here you go!