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 Job Cohen, the former Mayor of Amsterdam, 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 on moral grounds. “We really want to be part of government, We want to participate. I don’t think the other parties can escape us,” Mr Wilders said. 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 resigned as party leader last night. 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 1,950 Dutch troops in Afghanistan. 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.
Times Online
