Available in | Dutch |
---|---|
Owner | News Media (NL), Burgercomité-EU |
Slogan(s) | Red de democratie! (Save democracy!) |
Website | www |
Registration | Netherlands |
Launched | 2014 |
GeenPeil (Dutch "no level") is a political initiative by GeenStijl ("no style" or "without style"), a Dutch weblog and political party known for its provocative content and its past hoaxes. The name refers to polling results.
GeenStijl organized its first GeenPeil initiative during the 2014 European Parliament elections which were held 22 thru 25 May 2014 within the European Union. Being among the first to vote on May 22, Dutch municipalities were not allowed to publish the results of the election before those of the other EU members were known.
Because the Dutch Electoral Act states that the chairman of every polling station has to read the electoral results out loud, if requested to do so, GeenStijl found 1,442 volunteers willing to register and call-in the results of nearly every polling station within the country. Based on those results, GeenStijl was able to construct and publish its own exit poll in the early morning of 23 May 2014, several days before the last election results became public.
GeenPeil gained further publicity in 2015 by calling for an advisory referendum on the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement. The call for this referendum was supported by several Dutch political parties, including the PVV, Groep Bontes/Van Klaveren, SP, 50PLUS and PvdD. Opposing voices to the referendum stated that the subject was unsuitable for a 'substantive public discussion'; former minister of Economic Affairs Laurens Jan Brinkhorst said that in reality the referendum is not about the association agreement, but really is a "defining tool for either opposing or siding with Putin'.