The far-right party of murdered populist Pim Fortuyn played a key role in the overthrow of the centre-left coalition in the Dutch general election on Wednesday — but they could still find themselves left out in the cold when a new government takes office.
Final results released by the Dutch ANP news agency showed Pim Fortuyn’s List had made a sensational showing on their electoral debut, coming from nowhere to take 26 seats on an anti-immigration ticket.
That would make them the second-largest party after a relatively high turnout in the region of 78%.
”Pim may be dead, but his ideas are alive and kicking,” a jubilant List representative Mat Herben said.
But the Christian Democrats (CDA) were preparing for power as they will be the largest party in the 150-seat parliament with 43 seats, the ANP results showed. CDA leader Jan-Peter Balkenende was likely to be asked to form the next government.
It will be up to Balkenende to do his political arithmetic and decide whether to make overtures to the untried List, an eclectic collection of political novices, united only in their anti-establishment attitudes.
Balkenende has not ruled out the List finding a place in a coalition, but that would not be a popular move with his party’s traditional supporters, who would prefer an alignment with centre-left parties.
If the ANP results are confirmed the CDA and LPF would need only a further seven seats to consolidate a working majority in parliament, and would be able to reach their target with plenty to spare by approaching the liberal VVD.
However, Balkenende might consider an approach to the Labour Party, who headed the outgoing centre-left coalition and were the day’s big losers with only 23 seats, compared to the 45 they held in the last parliament.
It would be a harder route to follow, as it would also entail the party trying to enlist the support of the Green Left, which took 11 seats, and the reformist D’66 (seven seats), both of whom would be prepared to serve under certain conditions if it kept the extreme right out of power.
But for now, the List are revelling in their success, having picked up seats from across the board by playing on fears of insecurity and immigration to inflict the latest in a series of defeats on the European Left, following electoral setbacks in Italy, France, Denmark and Portugal.
The election campaign had been overshadowed by the murder of maverick anti-immigrant politician Fortuyn by a suspected animal-rights activist nine days ago.
His death seems to have fuelled support for the LPF, which has risen from nowhere in just three months to take 26 seats, the biggest electoral debut score since World War II.
The openly gay Fortuyn, who called to end immigration and said the influx of Muslim immigrants threatened the nation’s traditional liberal tolerance, was a political novice himself.
But after he led his party to a third of the local council seats in Rotterdam in municipal elections in March, he became a key player on the national political stage overnight.
His status as a political outsider found strong appeal with voters dissatisfied with public services despite two four-year terms of prosperity under Kok.
Fortuyn rejected comparisons with other right-wing leaders such as France’s Jean-Marie Le Pen and Austria’s Joerg Haider, and the mourners after his death drew people from across the political spectrum. – Sapa-AFP