Muntendam is a village in the municipality of

Midden-Groningen Midden-Groningen (Gronings: ''Midden-Grunnen'') is a municipality with a population of 60,953 in the province of Groningen, Netherlands. The municipality was formed by the merger of former municipalities of Hoogezand-Sappemeer, Slochteren and Me ...

, in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of t ...

. Until 1990 it was a separate municipality, which boasted the title 'reddest (most socialist) municipality in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

', with a council of 11 containing 7 PvdA (Labour Party) members and 2 CPN (Communist Party) members. (However, nearby

Reiderland Reiderland () is a former municipality in the province Groningen in the northeastern Netherlands, which was founded in 1990 during a large municipal reorganisation. The former municipalities Finsterwolde and Bad Nieuweschans were abolished and add ...

had had a vast CPN majority since

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, so the claim is rather too strong). When a new mayor had to be appointed in 1980 (at the time a municipality had no say in the matter), it was assumed that it would become a PvdA mayor as it had always been. However, the then minister of the interior,

Hans Wiegel Hans Wiegel (; born 16 July 1941) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessperson. Wiegel studied Law at the University of Amsterdam before switching to Political science obtaining a Bachelo ...

of the right-wing

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberalRudy Andeweg, Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingsto ...

, decided that this very left-wing part of the Netherlands needed a change and appointed a D66 (left of centre) mayor. This led to a cold reception and the first time a

mayor was not officially inaugurated. Over time, however, people started to like him and when he moved to a bigger municipality there was even an action to keep him (to no avail). Not much later, the method of appointing a mayor in the Netherlands was changed, with the municipality putting up a request which is usually followed.

Gallery

File:Muntendam (Grinslân), PKN-tsjerke.jpg, Protestant church File:Muntendam (Grinslân), it âlde gemeentehûs fan de gemeente Muntendam.jpg, Former town hall File:Egypteneinde, Egypte, Muntendam 054.jpg, House in Muntendam File:Muntendam 081.JPG, Street view

References

External links

* Populated places in Groningen (province) Former municipalities of Groningen (province) Midden-Groningen {{Groningen-geo-stub