Fortuyn party ‘scores heavily’ in Dutch elections

Dutch opposition parties were the big winners in today’s elections, exit polls showed, including Christian Democrats and the movement of a murdered populist candidate.

The Christian Democrats, who were in every Dutch government since 1945 until they lost power in 1994, took 41 of the 150 seats in parliament, the initial exit polls showed.

In a bigger upset, Pim Fortuyn’s List took 24 seats - the same number as that won each by Prime Minister Wim Kok’s socialists and the Liberal Party, Kok’s coalition allies for the past eight years.

The projected results would represent a resounding defeat for Kok, whose government brought the Dutch unequalled growth since 1994 but was punished for ignoring public concerns about drugs, immigration, welfare abuse and lax law enforcement.

Fortuyn brought those issues to the forefront, tapping into a groundswell of discontent with the Netherland’s ruling politicians and their tolerant policies.

He was killed on May 6 by a single gunman after doing a campaign radio interview. He was 54. His murder shocked the Netherlands 16 million people who have long prided itself in no-ripple consensus politics.

The projected outcome was a surprisingly strong victory for the Christian Democrats.

Earlier polls suggested they would win by a narrow margin over the two major parties of the outgoing coalition, the Labour Party and the Liberals, and over Fortuyn’s untested followers.

It thrust a 46-year-old Christian philosophy professor, Jan Peter Balkenende, into the role as the likely prime minister-to-be, just eight months after he took over the disunited party.

Fortuyn’s murder left the movement that bears his name leaderless, raising questions about how durable it will be.

The performance of his upstart party, formally known as Pim Fortuyn’s List, was all the more remarkable since it did not exist three months’ ago.

The vote projections indicated Labour Party, Liberals and Christian Democrats could garner a comfortable parliamentary majority, yet agreement on a government programme would likely be tough to find.

At the outset of polling, Kok told voters his eight years at the helm brought them ‘‘formidable’’ growth and prosperity. He said the elections ‘‘are about my legacy.’’

In the end, they were more about the legacy of Fortuyn - the bald, openly gay, ex-university professor who was a harsh critic the government’s tolerance of welfare abusers and tolerant asylum, drugs and law enforcement policies.

Defence Minister Frank de Grave, a Liberal, called his party’s defeat ‘‘heavier than expected.’’ The secretary of the Labour Party, Ruud Koole, said it was the worst result in the party’s history. ‘‘This is a difficult day for Labour,’’ he said.

Fortuyn’s party was exultant. ‘‘This is fantastic,’’ said Mat Herben at his party’s election headquarters in The Hague.

The officials from the Liberals and Fortuyn’s party said they did not rule out a three-party coalition with the Christian Democrats.

‘‘I hope we will be able to reach a government agreement,’’ said Herben, a possible successor to Fortuyn.

The party is a collection of rookies hand-picked by Fortuyn. However since Fortuyn’s slaying, the group has been riven by infighting. The party’s newly-elected chairman quit on Tuesday after causing an uproar by blaming the government for creating an atmosphere of hatred that led to Fortuyn’s death.

Irreverent, charismatic and a dapper dresser, Fortuyn attracted a huge following with his brash but ill-defined policies.

Although he was seen abroad as a something of a copy of France’s Jean-Marie Le Pen, Fortuyn never fit conveniently into the image of ‘‘extreme right-winger.’’

He called for a halt to immigration, a crackdown on crime and for throwing out what he called the entrenched political elite.

Fortuyn was shot dead in the parking lot of a radio station after an interview on May 6. Police have arrested a 32-year-old animal rights activist whose motive remains unclear.

Since Fortuyn left no successor, Galen Irwin, a political scientist at Leiden University, said he expected Fortuyn’s followers to ‘‘fall apart into different groups. If that happens ... you can count on new elections within a year or 18 months.’’

Fortuyn’s assassination was a grim end to an election campaign in a country where politicians, except the prime minister, have no bodyguards. Today, senior political leaders were accompanied by bodyguards as they cast their ballots.

In Rotterdam, people continued to lay wreaths, bouquets and stuffed animals around Fortuyn’s elegant three-storey house, and voters passed by to pay homage to the slain leader on their way to cast their ballots.

‘‘He just appealed to me. He let something loose,’’ said Marinus Kooijman, a 60-year-old grocer who has voted for Christian Democrats all his life.