NETHERLANDS: Dutch wake up to news that Christian Democrat Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has held onto power in parliamentary election; Battle now on form coalition government

The Dutch electorate woke up to news on Thursday (November 23) that the Christian Democrats held on to power in a parliamentary election but face a battle to form a coalition government after support shifted away from centrist parties to the far-left and far-right. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrats (CDA) won 41 seats in the 150-seat parliament in Wednesday's vote, down from 44 in the 2003 election but far ahead of the opposition Labour on 32, with all votes nearly counted. Labour saw many of its voters shift to the far-left Socialists (SP) which with 26 seats soared to third place ahead of the liberal VVD, Balkenende's coalition partner. The VVD lost ground to the new party of anti-immigration maverick Geert Wilders. Balkenende rode to victory on an economic upturn in the past year. But who joins the next coalition will determine how closely he can stick to his business-friendly policies and tough line on immigration, long a major concern of Dutch voters. The other big winner was the new party of anti-immigration maverick Geert Wilders, who says the Netherlands risks being flooded by Muslims and wants an immediate halt to new migrants. "The question now is which party will be the largest party in the Netherlands and there was indeed big fight between the labour party, the social democrats and my party, the christian democrats and after all the difficult years, after the reforms that were necessary for the country now we have seen again that the Social Democrats have won this election and this is of great significance also for the future of the Netherlands," Balkenende said after meeting with his supporters. Balkenende took power in 2002 in a coalition murdered anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn's party that came second after their leader was killed. But that government collapsed after just 87 days, prompting a new vote in 2003 that took five months to produce a new coalition. The leader of the Free market VVD coalition partner, Mark Rutte, said voting was "Very scattered." The night's big winner, the leader of the Socialist Party, Jan Marijinissen had said earlier when talking to his supporters that he was euphoric. "Its fine ma'am, real fine (you must be feeling extremely good?) Yes, especially for my people for the voters of course but also for the members of my party," he said before a debate between all the main parties. Independent far right candidate, Geert Wilders, the anti immigration politician seen as an heir to murdered populist Pym Fortuyn won 9 seats. "The message was to speak clearly to speak honestly about issues we have in the Netherlands," he said, "I don't want to see more immigration, I don't want to see more mosques more Islamic schools and more than a half of a million people shared their view and voted for me today," Wilders said. Neither Balkenende's current alliance with the VVD liberals nor a Labour-led coalition with the far-left Socialists and environmentalist Green Left have enough seats for a parliamentary majority, making long coalition talks likely.

ITN Source | November 23, 2006

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