From The Times
June 10, 2010
Election triumph puts anti-Islam Wilders in line for Dutch Cabinet roleDavid Charter
RECOMMEND? (
The Freedom Party of the anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders emerged as the third force in Dutch politics last night, more than doubling its number of seats in Parliament in the country’s general elections.
Exit polls predicted that Mr Wilders would command 23 seats, up from 9 — pushing the Christian Democrats, led by the outgoing Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, into fourth place.
With the Dutch Labour Party running neck-and-neck with the cost-cutting right-wing Liberal Party (VVD), it was unclear who would form the next government.
A late rally by Labour, led by the former Mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, saw them forecast to win 31 seats in the 150-member Parliament — the same number as Mark Rutte’s VVD party.
The VVD was expected to gain nine seats, not enough to claim the victory forecast by opinion polls in the run-up to an election that has left the complexion of the new Dutch Parliament split almost exactly between the Left and Right.
Mr Wilders, who wants to ban Muslim veils and the building of new mosques, is constitutionally bound to take part in coalition talks. He could be offered a place in a Cabinet chosen by Mr Rutte, who has said that the Freedom Party is “just another party”, but Mr Cohen has ruled out on moral grounds sharing power with the controversial critic of Islam.
Commentators were warning yesterday that forming a coalition could take many weeks. The biggest losers were the Christian Democrats, who plummeted from 41 seats to 21 in a damning indictment of Mr Balkenende’s eight years in charge. He is expected to resign and a new leader could still take the party into the new coalition.
There are several main options for a new government, depending on the exact results: a “purple” coalition of Mr Rutte’s VVD with Labour and two other parties; a right-wing alliance of the VVD with the Christian Democrats, the Freedom Party and one other party; or a left-wing grouping of Labour with some or all of the Christian Democrats, the left-wing Liberals of D66, forecast to have ten MPs (up from seven) and the Greens (with eleven MPs, up from four), or the Socialists (with sixteen MPs, up from nine).
The election was triggered when Labour walked out of a coalition government with the Christian Democrats in protest at plans to extend the mission of Dutch troops in Afghanistan. This barely featured in the campaign and Dutch troops are expected to return home later this year.
Mr Rutte, 43, promised to cut public spending by about €45 billion (£37 billion) over the next four years and by €20 billion a year from 2015 — the highest cuts proposed by any party.
Casting his vote in The Hague yesterday, he summed up his message: “Do we postpone the difficult measures and pay the price later, or are we prepared to bite the bullet now and come through the crisis stronger?”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7147108.eceAnalysts had estimated that he would win about 18 seats and that that would be a major, major accomplishment. With 23, his party absolutely killed it. Looks like there are still people in Netherlandistan that are tired of the rapid islamization of their country. Go Geert!
