In the previous municipal elections, local political parties won by far most votes and seats. Nationally, all local political parties won 28% of the votes and a third of municipal council seats. Local parties have seen a steady rise since the 1990s. In 2018,
Vlieland will be the only municipality in which no national political parties will contest the election. Of all national political parties, the
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) will contest most municipal elections; the party will be on the ballot in all but three (
Rozendaal,
Vlieland and
Schiermonnikoog). The
Labour Party (PvdA) comes second, contesting over 320 elections, albeit on a joint list with allied parties in some municipalities. The
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) will participate in over 315 elections, and the
Democrats 66 in over 270, followed by
GroenLinks in 220, the
Christian Union in 169, the
Socialist Party in 118 and the
Reformed Political Party (SGP) in 99. The
Party for Freedom (PVV), which had previously only participated in
The Hague and
Almere, initially planned to expand to a total of sixty municipalities, but has only been able to find suitable candidates in thirty, including
Rotterdam.
50PLUS will expand to twenty municipalities, while the
Party for the Animals (PvdD) will contest fifteen elections. Two new national political parties will make their entrance to municipal politics.
Denk will contest the elections in fourteen municipalities, while the
Forum for Democracy will only contest in
Amsterdam. Additionally, the latter has endorsed the local party
Livable Rotterdam. 45 municipalities did not have elections on 21 March due to mergers. ==Electoral system==