The Hague: Europe and the Arabs
The election campaign in the Netherlands has heated up ahead of Wednesday's parliamentary elections, which will determine the number of seats each party will win and qualify it to participate in a governing coalition in the country, which has suffered from political chaos for the past two years, according to media reports in neighboring Belgium on Monday morning. This came after the withdrawal of the far-right party in the country, led by Geert Wilders, from the governing coalition, leaving the government without the majority in parliament to pass legislation due to disagreements over asylum and immigration laws and other matters. This is not the first time that the far-right has been included in a government coalition, leading to early elections and the government's downfall. However, according to recent opinion polls, some parties have achieved success, increasing their chances of winning more seats in the next parliament. This could, therefore, allow for the formation of a new coalition without the far-right (PVV), even if the latter still holds the largest number of seats compared to the other parties. According to the Dutch website "Wildlinge Kringen," opinion polls showed that the gap between the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), the left-wing Green Party (GroenLinks-PvdA), and the Democratic Party (D66), according to an Ipsos I&O poll, is around four seats. If the margin of error of approximately two seats is taken into account, D66 and the Green Party (GroenLinks-PvdA) could outperform Geert Wilders's (PVV). Opinion polls showed the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVVD) winning 26 seats, the Green Party (GL-PvdA) 23, and the D66 party 22. D66's actual gain is particularly notable: it gained four seats in the poll. While the PVV lost three seats, the Green Party (GL-PvdA) remained unchanged. Wilders now has 11 more seats in the House of Representatives, Frans Timmermans' party gained three, and D66 now holds nine.
The CDA saw a significant decline compared to last week's poll. Henri Bontenpaal's party dropped from 25 to 20 seats. Many of those now voting for a different party say this is due to Bontenpaal's comments on Monday's "Nieuwsuur" program about homosexuality in reform schools. He said that constitutional freedom of education may conflict with the constitutional prohibition of discrimination, in response to a video of a former gay reform school student who was allowed to announce his sexual orientation at school, and nothing more.
Potential Voters
Bontenbal backtracked on his statements, but according to Ipsos I&O polls, many have had enough and have decided to change parties. The D66 and VVD parties are particularly benefiting from this. In the poll, the VVD gained two more seats compared to last week, bringing its total to 16.
The poll also included parties people are considering voting for. D66 has the largest number of potential voters. More than 35% of people say they will vote for D66 or are considering it. The CDA follows with 31%, followed by the GroenLinks-PvdA and PVV with 29% and 27%, respectively.
Incidentally, the majority (82%) indicated that they were still unsure which party they would vote for. More than half (55%) already had a strong preference, while the remainder had not yet decided. Of those surveyed, 76% said they would definitely vote.
Regarding the most prominent developments in the election campaign, the Dutch daily newspaper Volkskrant reported on Monday morning that two members of parliament from the Party for Freedom (PVV) had posted artificially generated images of Frans Timmermans on a popular Facebook page they secretly run. This was followed by dozens of death wishes for the politician. A constitutional law professor described the incident as a "scandalous weakness."
Separately, Dilan Yesilgöz, leader of the Dutch political party "Voice for Freedom and Democracy," was unable to return to her home in Amsterdam after an election debate on Saturday evening due to a "suspicious situation" in her neighborhood. She stated this on Sunday on the television program "Buitenhof."
Yesilgöz was first taken to a safe place and then informed of the situation. She was finally able to return home on Sunday night.
The incident was reportedly caused by suspicious behavior by people near the party leader's home. She said the people were stopped; it is unknown whether any of them have been arrested.
Yesilgöz was unable to confirm the source of the threat. As she was Minister of Justice and Security in the previous government, she had previously received threats from organized crime gangs. Therefore, she is under constant protection.
The Belgian newspaper Nieuwsblad reported that the incident occurred in the midst of the early parliamentary election campaign, after two years of political chaos. Our northern neighbors will head to the polls on Wednesday.