This week, the 135,000th Dutch voter registered to vote from abroad in the October 29th House of Representatives elections. Since the fall of the government, the number of voters outside the Netherlands has grown by 20% to 135,424. For the 2023 House of Representatives elections, this number was 109,436.

The number of eligible voters outside the Netherlands for the House of Representatives elections will increase slightly due to those who wish to vote by mail because they are temporarily living abroad. These include Dutch military personnel at NATO bases or Dutch students doing internships. The registration deadline for these applications is Wednesday, October 1st.

Postal voting office The Hague

Voters outside the Netherlands vote by mail by default. Along with their postal voting certificate, they receive an orange return envelope, which must be received by the postal voting office in The Hague by October 29th. The postal voting office will verify the postal votes during a public hearing beginning on Wednesday, October 22nd. After receiving the final postal votes from embassies and consulates, the national postal voting office will determine the results on Tuesday, November 4th. This includes the results from the postal voting offices of Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten.

Permanent electoral register for non-residents

Since April 2017, Dutch citizens living abroad can apply to be included in a permanent voter register. Dutch voters abroad only need to register once with the municipality of The Hague, after which they automatically receive their voting documents to cast their vote. The first postal voting slips for the October 29th House of Representatives elections were sent out at the end of July. The ballot paper will be sent out in early October once the candidate lists are finalized. Dutch citizens living abroad can vote in elections for the House of Representatives, the European Parliament, and the non-resident electoral college for the Senate.

Voters living outside the Netherlands who can vote for the House of Representatives elections of October 29, 2025 (top 30 country list)

CountryNumber of voters
1Germany25,190
2Belgium21,341
3France11,539
4United Kingdom9,620
5Spain9,520
6United States of America7,616
7Switzerland6,841
8Sweden3,644
9Portugal2,817
10Australia2,697
11Italy2,455
12Austria2,256
13Norway2,211
14Canada1,985
15Denmark1,770
16Curacao1,757
17New Zealand1,078
18Thailand1,066
19Ireland972
20Aruba860
21South Africa855
22Hungary855
23Israel837
24Singapore820
25Luxembourg817
26Greece695
27United Arab Emirates688
28Finland582
29Turkey560
30China535

Text: Gemeente Den Haag

Translation to English: The Hague Online / Google Translate

Image: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/map-atlas-countries-country-1252144/