THE HAGUE – Housing shortages, the environment, health care, education. Dutch voters have plenty of issues to consider in next week's election but one towers over all others: the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Dutch vote for the 150-seat lower house of parliament, deeply conscious that more than 16,000 people in the Netherlands have died of COVID-19 and the country is in the midst of a tough lockdown that includes a night-time curfew. “I do indeed think that the elections this year are really about the coronavirus, of course,” said student Ayoub Aouragh. “Because we have seen that the Cabinet has made many mistakes in the past and we now actually want to see how we can emerge from this together.” Many voters approve of Prime Minister Mark Rutte's