He presides over a city of half a million people, almost 60% of whom have foreign roots.
But Jan van Zanen, mayor of The Hague, has assured his international residents that a huge election win for Hart voor den Haag – which opposes asylum centres and wants low-paid migrant workers to be housed on the edge of the city – is not a cause for concern.
“Do not worry,” he said at a reception for foreign journalists on Tuesday. “Democracy in The Hague worked. Fortunately we had a higher [turnout] and what will happen will happen. I’m sure that The Hague will continue to be, also with this party largest, the international city of peace and justice.”
Hart voor Den Haag, the local party led by Richard de Mos, was excluded from the last coalition because he faced charges of corruption in public office. But he was acquitted in 2024 and won just over 30% of votes in this month’s election, double the share of GroenLinks/PvdA, which came second.
This week De Mos appointed former Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb to guide the coalition formation process.
The “residents-first” party Hart voor Den Haag explicitly targeted the international vote this year, with an “expats” page on its website. It participated in English-language events and Mos told Dutch News that there was “a world to win” by reaching out to international residents.
As an appointed official, the mayor cannot comment on political parties, although he pointed out that Hart voor den Haag’s manifesto had elements “in favour” of the international community – for example, boosting road safety around international schools, improving train connections and promoting (business) tourism.
“Of course, the issue of migration is very vibrant and vivid, not only in The Hague – that’s true, and we have to deal with it,” he said.
“There are always things to be worried about, because housing is not solved, the migration issue is not solved, the unrest… the disappointment and the worries are not solved because every night people see on television what’s happening not only in far away countries, but also on our own [European] border, in Ukraine and in the Middle East.”
Like other major cities, the Dutch seat of government has a severe housing shortage and, according to city statistics, is growing by 5,000 residents a year. City head of housing Co Engberts said that an estimated 60,000 low-paid foreign workers live in the city, often in illegally overpriced and overcrowded accommodation – many being transported to jobs elsewhere in the country on a daily basis.
The city, like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, is using its new powers under the affordable rent law to inform more people about their rights and impose fines of up to €87,000 on landlords who exploit their tenants.
The mayor said that around a fifth of the city’s economy is related to internationals and so a real effort was made to reach out to those who could vote. “We had many debates, publications, in all kinds of languages,” he said – adding that he too made a video in English informing people about their voting rights.
“We really try, because those people live here, they have partners, some of them work at the courts, some of them work at the NGOs – and 20% of our local economy is international-related.”
