Netherlands: Prime Minister Rutte’s Party Wins Legislative Elections

The latest estimates shortly before midnight GMT credited the Liberals with 35 out of 150 seats in the lower house of parliament, against 33 in the outgoing assembly, and allocated 26 seats to D66 (center left) and 18 to the Freedom Party (PVV ) anti-Islam deputy Geert Wilders, with whom the main parties have already ruled out forming a coalition.

The second largest party in the country before these elections, the PVV lost three seats, a disappointing result for its leader, who told reporters to have “hoped for more”. With 26 seats, or 7 more, the pro-European progressives of the D66 won the biggest victory in the history of the party, led by the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Sigrid Kaag.

“I see the confidence we have received as confirmation that we are the only progressive party to have wielded influence in recent years,” said Sigrid Kaag, who appeared dancing standing on a table in a photo posted on Twitter.

Mark Rutte said it was likely that negotiations to form a new coalition government will be with the D66 and CDA (Christian Democrats) of Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra, which has 14 seats. The PvdA (Social Democrats) won 9 seats, and the environmentalists of Groenlinks and the radical left of the SP 8 seats each. The party of populist Thierry Baudet, the Forum for Democracy, would do a good deal by also winning 8 seats, against 2 currently.

Adapted elections

These legislative measures had been adapted because of the Covid-19, in particular by taking place over three days, and they were considered as a test of the management of the epidemic by the current government. The ballot boxes were in unusual places such as the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, hotels, train stations, churches and testing centers all over the Netherlands, where you could sometimes vote by bike or car. .

Mark Rutte had said himself “cautiously” optimistic before going to vote in a school in The Hague. “I am proud of what we have achieved over the past 10 years in the Netherlands,” one of the best performing economies in Europe, Mark Rutte told reporters before voting. “The main question during these elections is who can best lead this country through the coronavirus crisis,” he added.

Which coalition to lead the Netherlands?

A record number of 37 parties contested for 150 seats in the lower house of parliament, in a fragmented political landscape that forces complex coalitions. Mark Rutte ruled out any coalition with Geert Wilders “because of what he said about Islam and the Koran”. One of the parties in the current coalition, Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra’s Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), would again be a “natural partner” for the Prime Minister. The anti-Islam MP insisted that his party be invited to the negotiating table during the formation of a government coalition after the election.

Nicknamed the Prime Minister “Teflon” for his ability to emerge unscathed from political crises, Mark Rutte was nevertheless forced to resign in January after thousands of parents were wrongly accused of fraud in family allowances. His government, however, remained in place to take care of the day-to-day business.