Polls predict Labour comeback in Netherlands
Dutch voters appeared evenly split between the country’s two major parties as they voted today, raising the prospect that the next government may be a “grand coalition” of the rival camps.
After being humbled in last year’s elections, the Labour Party was poised for a comeback. Opinion polls showed it had pulled slightly ahead of the Christian Democrats, whose right-leaning coalition fell apart after less than three months in power.
But the election outcome remained doubtful because of the high number of wavering voters.
Wouter Bos, who is credited with reviving Labour’s credibility in a series of pre-election debates, indicated that a partnership with the Christian Democratic Alliance was a clear possibility.
“There is still so much that has to happen. First we have to see if the CDA is willing to talk to us. Then we have to negotiate a governing agreement,” he said.
Voting began at 7.30am (6.30am Irish time) at 10,000 polling stations around the country and was reported to be brisk despite a chilly rainfall. Polls close at 9pm (2000 GMT), when projections will be broadcast based on exit polls.
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 anti-immigration 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 mounted 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.
Fortuyn, a gay, brash academic and columnist, revived public enthusiasm for politics which had become lifeless and predictable.
“Voting hasn’t been this much fun in years,” said Akke de Blauw, 53, an Amsterdam university employee before casting her vote today. “The politicians seem to be listening to the voters again.”
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 have join forces in coalitions in the past.
Political scientist Ronald Holtzhacker agreed a grand coalition of the two large parties appeared likely, though unhealthy for Dutch democracy.
“It is not a recipe for stability. It’s important, even in a consensus system, that parties be competing with each other,” he said.
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 candidate Job Cohen, 55, served as a junior minister in earlier Labour-led governments and became Amsterdam’s mayor two years ago – a post he said he would be sorry to leave. “I always had ambitions in public office. But if you are asking if I had a burning ambition to be prime minister, no,” he said as he cast his ballot.
Cohen would be the first Jewish prime minister for the Netherlands, which was occupied by the Nazis in the Second World War. More than 70% of its Jews were deported to Germany and killed, including Cohen’s grandparents.
He is known as a self-effacing compromiser who says most problems cannot be solved, only managed.
Bos, 39, a former manager with Royal Dutch Shell who was chosen last November to lead the party, said he preferred to stay in parliament and named the more experienced Cohen to stand for prime minister.
