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Taking part in two cities it has become the largest party in Almere and the second largest in The Hague. (
Mr Wilders was visibly buoyed by the results and was characteristically combative saying this was the first step in the upcoming campaign for parliamentary elections.
“The national campaign begins today in Almere and The Hague, tomorrow in all of the Netherlands… On 9 June, we’ll conquer the Netherlands,” said Mr Wilders.
My comment:
[Labor Party PvdA of Wouter Bos took a beating for the city council elections, the Christian Democrats
CDA of JP Balkenende took a minor loss, although both parties should have done better at the local level.
A big loser was the Socialist Party SP of Agnes Kant nearly split in half, mainly due to their voters staying home.”]
More to follow …
(NRC) – The popularity of Wilders, who compares Islam to fascism and the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, has dented the image of the Netherlands as a country that has often portrayed itself in the past as a bastion of tolerance.
In Almere, the PVV won 21 percent of the vote to Labour’s 18 percent, the preliminary results showed. In The Hague, the PVV had 8 seats — second to Labour with 10 seats. After counting 93 percent of the votes, experts put turnout in the local elections at 56 percent.
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It has been always easier to be in opposition and gain plenty of seats, once in a coalition, the same number of seats evaporate. Fortuyn appealed to the silent minority of a populist movement, many of whom had never before cast a vote. Fortuyn’s list was unable to produce candidates of minimal quality. He himself was aware of it, just in the local election of 2002, his affiliated party Leefbaar Rotterdam got one third of the vote in Rotterdam. This came at a cost to the Labor Party PvdA.
SP basically came forward from strong local politics and strongman Jan Marijnissen build the Socialist Party to national prominence. Agnes Kant or anyone else, could never expect to keep those same voters and seats. Try to look at the historic division of voters: 40% Labor and socialists (left), 35% Christian Democrats and tiny parties (center) and 25% Liberal Democrats and parties to the right. It’s clear how most coalitions were formed.
New parties of populists movements are created, expand and implode. In the past, such a party did well and gained 5% of the vote or 8 seats. Fortuyn upset the old balance by gaining nearly 20% and some 26 seats. The election in May 2002 was one that we’ll never see again: Liberals VVD and Labor PvdA decimated and very surprising Christian Democrats from opposition role with a young, new leader getting 43 seats.
After the attacks og 9/11, the murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh has truly caused the voters to drift. The election results are highly unpredictable and the polls never concur. At the moment, criticism is an easy attribute in politics: economic recession and difficult choice on social issues to be made for a coming generation. Once the campaign gets underway and the television debates have started, the true preference of voters will become somewhat visible. Historically, 25% of the voters will make their choice in the voter booth! Plenty of surprises will be possible. A previous ally of Gert Wilders is Rita Verdonk. Her one-woman party had polled 10% before, now she will find it difficult to earn her own seat in parliament. On the left side, the Liberal Party D’66 have made a stunning recovery in the polls: 12% or 18 seats.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."