The Christian Democrats (CDA) look set to lead a coalition administration in the Netherlands after the outgoing government headed by the Labour Party were spectacularly defeated in today’s general election, according to exit polls.
The campaign has been overshadowed by the assassination of the far-right List party leader Mr Pim Fortuyn who look to have scored a spectacular 24 seats.
The party was formed just three months ago and concern has been expressed that its novice candidates may be too inexperienced to hold the reins of power. Already it is speculated that they will not be invited into a coalition.
Christian Democrat (CDA) leader Mr Jan Peter Balkenende is the one most likely to lead the new government after indications that his party had secured 41 seats in the 150-seat parliament in The Hague.
The anti-immigration party of Mr Fortuyn look to have shared second place with Labour on 24 seats each in the 150-seat parliament in The Hague.
The Liberals and third coalition party, D66 also suffered hefty losses.
"It's a tremendous beating. It's a disastrous result," said Labour campaign manager Mr Jacques Monasch. "It's beyond a landslide."
The Dutch election extended a trend that has seen left-leaning governments tumble in the past 12 months in elections in Italy, Denmark, Portugal and France, with support increasing for populist far-right parties that have exploited concerns about crime, immigration and loss of national identity.
The openly gay Mr Fortuyn, a non-conformist who had flirted with Marxism and passionately advocated free speech, rejected comparisons with France's Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen or Austria's Mr Joerg Haider, saying the establishment had "demonized" him as a far-right extremist.
But he shocked the government of a country with a big immigrant community by calling Islam backward and demanding Dutch borders be shut to new migrants.
While Mr Balkenende is the hot favourite to head the next coalition, in the fragmented Dutch political arena, nothing is guaranteed.
With no less than 10 parties expected to be represented in the new parliament, the mills of Dutch politics grind slowly and coalition government-building is usually a sluggish process.
Historically, the winning party forms a coalition with one or two other parties to ensure a majority of seats. But the largest party does not necessarily win a place in government.
In 1977, the Labour party secured the biggest parliamentary representation with a record 53 seats but its uncompromising stance with potential coalition partners led the other parties to unite to form an alternative government.
Labour, led by Mr Wim Kok, resigned en masselast month after accepting belated blame for a botched 1995 Dutch/UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia.
Despite healthy economic growth and low unemployment that many fellow European leaders can only dream of, voters were set to punish Mr Kok's center-left coalition over growing hospital waiting lists, train delays, crime and cash-strapped schools.
AFP &
AFP &