Half of the Dutch fear foreign influence on elections | Inland

Of that 49 percent, three quarters think that Russia in particular will try to interfere in the Dutch elections. In second and third place are China (59 percent) and Turkey (58 percent). 35 percent think the United States will try to exert influence.

According to the panel, the countries would be interested in causing political instability or increasing the influence of Dutch political parties that support their trade interests. Turkey would aim to increase the power of Islam in the Netherlands and to keep Turkish Dutch involved in Turkey.

According to the respondents, the influence will mainly take place via trolls and fake news on social media. 26 percent think the attempts will have a “major effect” on the election results. 24 percent think that the composition of the coalition will be affected.

Furthermore, the majority of those questioned (69 percent) think that the elections should take place in March, even if the corona epidemic in the Netherlands is not yet over. 45 percent think voting by post is a good option. An almost equally large group does not think this is a good idea, because they believe that voting by mail is too susceptible to fraud.

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