The mayor of Rotterdam battled a crippling fear of heights to abseil Thursday down one of her city's most iconic landmarks, the 185-metre-high Euromast, honouring a pre-election bet.
Carola Schouten had pledged to take the plunge if turnout in municipal elections in March was higher than four years earlier.
And the voters of Rotterdam took her at her word, pushing up turnout to 40.7 percent, higher than the record low 38.9 percent recorded in 2022.
Under cloudy skies and swinging precariously in a blustery wind, Schouten inched down the abseiling rope accompanied by an expert, taking just over 10 minutes to complete the descent.
She landed to cheers from a handful of spectators and staff, throwing herself with visible relief into the arms of her accompanying abseiler.
"The first part was the most difficult," Schouten told AFP, revealing that she had been to a training session with the Dutch marines beforehand.
"They showed me what to do, what to think, what to look at -- don't look down -- and just keep an eye on what's in front of you... so it helped me a lot," said the 48-year-old.
In a video posted on Instagram before the vote, Schouten had said: "I'm prepared to do anything to ensure that turnout is higher."
She said she had been asked whether that would include abseiling down the Euromast, "Europe's highest" according to its website.
"You should know that I have a huge fear of heights -- in fact I am a bit shaky even being up here," Schouten said in the March video posted from the top of the tower.
But she said she would throw herself off the viewing platform 100 metres up, even showing people the abseiling gear.
"So, if you want to see me dangling, make sure you vote on March 18," pledged the mayor.
After Thursday's descent, she said she was not sure she would do it again and that it had definitely not cleared her of her fear of heights.
"But it was important to do this because I wanted to pay attention to the elections and the importance of democracy and the fact that for many people, it's not easy to go to vote or they don't know if it makes a difference," she told AFP.
"This was a fun thing but the message behind it is very serious," she said.
Prime Minister Rob Jetten had joined in the fun, saying he would also abseil down the tower if the national turnout was higher -- which it was.
However, the PM was unable to join Schouten on Thursday, citing scheduling clashes. He will "definitely do it" said a spokesman. "He's just looking for a date in his diary."
Schouten said they had tried to coordinate their schedules but it proved too difficult.
"I'm quite sure that one day he will go down also," she said.
Schouten is not the first mayor of a major city to attempt a high-wire stunt.
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson attracted widespread ridicule in 2012 when he got stuck on a zip wire rigged up from City Hall, as he celebrated Britain first Olympic gold medal.
Images of him dangling in the air waving Union Jack flags and crying "get me a rope" went viral as a crowd of onlookers snapped him with their phones.
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