Polls predict labour comeback in Holland

The Netherlands’ Labour Party appeared poised to return as the country’s biggest party today as Dutch voters cast their ballots.

Opinion polls showed Labour level with or slightly beating the Christian Democrats, whose coalition fell apart after less than three months in power.

But the election outcome remained doubtful because of the high number of undecided voters.

Brisk voting began at 7:30am (0630 GMT) at 10,000 polling stations. One Rotterdam polling station said 4% of the registered voters in the precinct had cast their ballots within the first half hour.

Labour lost nearly half its 45 seats in the 150-member parliament in 2002, after eight years in power during which the Netherlands prospered economically and introducing pioneering policies such as legalised euthanasia and gay marriages.

That election was thrown into tumult by maverick populist Pim Fortuyn, who was assassinated nine days before the election, but whose party went on to become the second largest and a partner with the Christian Democrats.

Fortuyn shattered Dutch taboos against discussing the ethnic tensions that have been mounting for years, as first- and second-generation immigrants grew to become 10% of the country’s 16 million population.

Now, all mainstream parties have co-opted Fortuyn’s policies of limiting new immigration, compelling immigrants to integrate into Dutch society, and cracking down on crime.

In Dutch politics, no party can win an outright majority. The largest of the 20 parties contesting seats will be asked by Queen Beatrix to form a coalition, and the negotiations over a common platform with partners can take weeks.

The centre-right Christian Democrats and the centre-left Labour Party are likely to split more than 85 seats. The two parties could join forces in an uncomfortable coalition, as they have several times in the past.

Incumbent Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Christian Democrats is a 46-year-old former university lecturer and political researcher, whose brief period in office was hampered by internal bickering among Fortuyn’s successors.

Labour leader Job Cohen, 55, is currently Amsterdam’s mayor and served as a junior minister in earlier Labour-led governments.

A former oil manager with Royal Dutch Shell is credited with Labour’s reversal of fortune. Wouter Bos, 39, was chosen last November to lead the party, campaigning on a traditional centre-left platform.

As the possibility grew that Labour could return to government, Bos said he preferred to stay in parliament and named the more experienced Cohen to stand for prime minister.