Ukrainian Referendum Map

Yesterday the Netherlands voted to reject closer EU links to Ukraine in a national referendum. Public Service Broadcaster NOS has created an interactive Leaflet map which shows the results of the referendum at municipality level.

The European Union has provisionally agreed political cooperation and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with Ukraine. However full ratification has been put on hold until after the Dutch referendum. The treatry has to be ratified by all 28 European Union countries. 27 countries have ratified the treaty but the Netherlands has yet to do so.

In the Netherlands citizens can force a referendum by gathering 300,000 signatures on the internet. The referendum on closer EU links with Ukraine is the first petition to gather the necessary number of signatures.

The Ukrainian Referendum Map allows you to see the total number of votes cast, the number of votes cast for & against and the voter turnout in each municipality. Overall a majority has voted against closer ties with Ukraine. The voter turnout figure however is very important as the referendum needs to achieve a 30% turnout to be valid.

The map itself doesn't seem to have been updated since last night - so it may not have the very latest results. It is also worth noting that the referendum is non-binding. Judging by the results shown on the map the Dutch government will have a hard argument to claim that the majority of those who voted are not clearly against closer ties with Ukraine. However they may have some wiggle room to argue that the low turnout shows that many voters don't care enough about the issue to bother voting.