Outcome provincial elections (and senate)

So Wednesday we got to vote on who gets to govern our province for the coming few years and through that decide who gets to sit in our Senate (basically the second level of national government). It was a bit of a dilemma for me because I was unhappy voting left but wouldn't feel comfortable voting right either. I did the regular test on the internet but it put me in the corner of "social conservative" which, in the Netherlands, hasn't got a party. The two parties I was situated closest to in the test were the Christian Union and the Christian Democrats. Both parties I wouldn't vote for if my life depended on it. Bloody Christians. Anyway, I figured I had to manually go through the parties programmes in order to decide what would be best for me to vote. Turned out I had most in common with Democrats '66, which is a party I can live with. Today I found out many unhappy socialists are turning to this party. For my province (Groningen) the election turned out pretty good:

Groningen (opkomst: 58%)

	Seats	2007	+/- (seats)	Votes (%)	+/- (%)
PvdA	12	12	0	24,9%	-1,30%
CDA	5	9	-4	12,0%	-7,40%
SP	6	7	-1	12,8%	-3,10%
VVD	6	5	1	13,1%	1,40%
ChristenUnie	3	4	-1	7,6%	-2,70%
GroenLinks(Green Left)	3	3	0	7,2%	-0,40%
Partij voor het Noorden	1	1	0	3,2%	-0,40%
D66	3	1	2	7,8%	5,20%
Partij voor de Dieren	1	1	0	2,1%	-0,10%
50PLUS	0	-	-	1,6%	-
Partij voor de Vrijheid	3	-	-	7,7%	-
Overige	-	0	-	-	-

The first column of numbers shows the current (new) amount of seats (chairs, number of people) the party got in the Provincial house. The column next to it ("2007") shows the previous number of seats.

The PvdA is the Dutch Labour Party, a pathetic central-left party which I voted for only once in the hope of swaying the national elections in at least partly the right way. That turned out bad since we lost, but only by a very small percentage. The north of the Netherlands (Groningen, Drenthe, Friesland) is always 'red' as in socialist. PvdA is the largest party in all three.

CDA is the Christian Democratic party, which I passionately hate. They are quite moderate in their Christian output, but they're still Christian and therefore deserve no place in government. It's a disgrace to secularism, it is. Sadly, most Dutch have been voting their way for years. Fortunately, those people tend to be old and bound to die soon, relieving us from their poor political insight. In the Dutch Biblebelt (mainly the province of Overijssel) the CDA is most popular, which, shamefully, also resulted in Overijssel being the only province in which the CDA is the largest.

SP is the Socialist Party. I've been a member of this part for little over two years. Then I got fed up with their ridiculous views on immigration and religious freedom that I quit my membership. I did vote for the twice, and I guess I still would if their course was more to my liking. They are more hardcore socialists than the PvdA (Labour Party) which attracts many young idealists.

VVD is the party for economic liberals and social misfits. Though a liberal party, its anti-social economical measures displeases many. I almost voted for them in the past national election, since the economic depression was on its way, but decided I didn't want money to be pulled from education or healthcare. Sadly, this is the largest party in the Netherlands and basically all other provinces vote for them.

D66, my current favourite party. Heading for social liberty and economic stability, what drove me to vote for them most was their strong intent to invest (rather than cut) in education and healthcare. The building blocks of any society.

Partij voor de Vrijheid, the much debated PVV of the infamous Geert Wilders. A party, again, for social misfits who uphold the idea that the Netherlands is founded on a Judeo-Christian history. Undemocratic, unintelligent and quite preposterous. But they are on the rise, especially in the south of the Netherlands where polarization is strong and social skills questionable.

I'm not unhappy with how the election turned out for my province. I am more unhappy with what the rest of my country is thinking... I'm afraid I'll have to end this post just like I did the previous one on the outcome of elections:

I am no democrat.

But when democracy is utilized, it is quite sad when only 58% of the voters turns up in my province. And that is a lot, considering the rest of the Netherlands is almost all below that level, the highest being 61% and the lowest 51%. I've always been of the opinion that, if people decide not to vote, they don't get to kick about the political state of affairs. No voting = no complaining. But this means half of my fellow citizens gets to shut up about politics for the coming four years, which makes it hard to enforce my rule.

In other news: I am depressed and (finally) seeking help. It annoys me to be unhappy, tired and unable to find the energy to do anything. Besides that, being depressed is very unlike how I see myself. Let's hope the psychologist is any help... And I can now be found on facebook. I know I swore off friend network sites, but it turns out it cannot be avoided in this day and age. /diederick.a.becker

I'm still in the Academy of Nursing, but will need to start over next year. I've been missing a lot because of this damn depression... it seems to be happening to a lot of young adults, so I'm anxious to find what might be causing it. Of course I have some theories of my own, but I can't diagnose myself, yet. I am, however, digging into medicine and psychology and plan on getting ahead before the next year at the academy starts. My friends and colleagues are very supportive, fortunately.
Lately I've been 'investigating' Joseph Sayers. This hot little man has been in my catalogue ever since I found out I had a taste for men. Turns out there are some rather exciting pictures of him doing some softcore pornography for Edelson photography (which the above and below pictures also originate from). Sadly those are hard to get ones hands on, at least without the exciting parts being blurred. Would any of my readers have what I am looking for - please contact me.