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Copyright � 2002 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
Dutch conservatives win, exit polls show
Keith B. Richburg The Washington Post
Thursday, May 16, 2002
AMSTERDAM Following what is emerging as a Europe-wide trend, Dutch voters on
Wednesday decisively ended eight years of Left-led "purple coalition" government
and instead voted heavily in favor of the rightist Christian Democratic Alliance and a
new party formed by the assassinated, anti-immigrant political maverick Pim Fortuyn.
Dutch television exit polls showed the Christian Democrats could win as many as 40
seats in the 150-seat Parliament, a striking gain from its current 29 seats. The Labor
Party, the leading party in the current three-way coalition, appeared heading for a
huge loss, with no more than about 24 seats, according to the exit polls. The Labor
party held 45 seats in the last government. Under the Dutch system, which favors
small parties, coalition governments are inevitable. Before the turmoil of the last
nine
days, with Fortuyn's assassination and the pageantry of his wake and funeral, the
Christian Democrats had said they could join a coalition with Fortuyn's party, which is
perhaps best known for their slain leader's outspokenness against further
immigration to Holland.
The next governing coalition could take weeks or months to form, following the Dutch
tradition of postelection horse-trading. But one Christian Democratic candidate said
they hoped to move quickly given the seismic shift reflected in today's voting. "People
want us to act," said Maria Van Der Hoeven, in a television interview. "We can't go
on for three, four, five or six months building a coalition."
It was Fortuyn's murder in a media center parking lot on May 6 that overshadowed
the final nine days before the election, with all parties suspending their campaigning
and advertising. Fortuyn's party, which bears his name, appeared to be heading for
about 26 parliamentary seats, according to initial television exit polls. That would be
less than some analysts had predicted - anticipating a wave of sympathy votes for
Fortuyn - but still remarkable for a party that was only formed a few months ago, and
which consists mostly of political novices and unknowns.
Fortuyn's party has been called more of a "movement" than an actual party, since
there is no platform and no actual members, other than the novice parliamentary
candidates Fortuyn collected at the last moment. Since Fortuyn's assassination -
allegedly by an environmental and animal rights activist - the party has remained
leaderless, and analysts tonight suggested many of Fortuyn's voters decided to
register their protest against the government by voting for the established Christian
Democrats instead.
"It was change within conventional bounds," said Cees Van Der Eijk, an Amsterdam
University political scientist, speaking on television. He called the results "a wake
up
call" for the established political parties.
The voting on Wednesday - if the exit poll projections are confirmed in the official
tally - marked a stunning rejection of the current Labor prime minister, Wim Kok, who
for eight years presided over a period of solid economic growth and low
unemployment.
Kok's left-led coalition - including the free-market VVD Liberal party, which also
appeared on its way to 24 seats - also pushed through some of Europe's most
progressive social policy legislation, legalizing brothels in Holland, legalizing
euthanasia, becoming the world's first country to open marriages to homosexuals,
and a raft of other policies. Most of those social policies were enacted into law after
years of backroom crafting and with very little political debate - a quiet "consensus"
style that Fortuyn belittled.
Kok was not standing for a new term, but had handed over the reins of the Labor
party to his handpicked successor, Ad Melkert.
In many ways, Kok's government suffered the same fate as the one that befell former
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin of France, who similarly was credited with being a
strong manager of government who presided over strong economic growth, but who
failed to detect rising voter concern over issues like crime, and the related issue of
immigration.
Copyright � 2002 The International Herald Tribune
End<{{{
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