Netherlands: Legislative elections (pub. Nov. 24, 2006)

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The ruling Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), led by Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, on Nov. 22, 2006, won more seats than any other party in legislative elections to the Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer--the lower house of the Staten Generaal, the bicameral legislature) but failed to secure a majority in the 150-member chamber. Provisional results indicated that Prime Minister Balkenende’s CDA had secured 41 seats, whereas the Labour Party (PvdA), the main opposition party, won 33 seats. The far left Socialist Party (SP) won 25 seats, whilst the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) secured 22, and the anti-immigration Freedom Party (PPV) nine.

Immediate context

The elections were called after Balkenende’s coalition government unexpectedly collapsed in June, when the centrist Democrats 66 (D66), the smallest member of the three-party centre-right coalition, withdrew its support. The D66 withdrew in protest against Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, who had threatened to revoke the Dutch citizenship of prominent Somali-born legislator Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim and outspoken campaigner against radical Islam who had come to symbolise the Netherlands’ resistance to Islamist fundamentalism. Radical Islam and immigration were highly charged political issues in the Netherlands. Legislative elections contested on May 15, 2002, had been overshadowed on May 6 when Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF) leader Pim Fortuyn, who had called for limits on immigration and referred to Islam as a "backward religion", was assassinated by Volkert van der Graaf, an animal rights campaigner. Theo van Gogh, a descendant of the 19th-century artist Vincent van Gogh and a controversial Dutch film-maker who had criticised aspects of Islam, was brutally murdered in Amsterdam on Nov. 2, 2004. Mohammed Bouyeri, a 27-year-old Dutch Moroccan and a radical Islamist who pleaded guilty to shooting and stabbing van Gogh, was on July 26, 2005, sentenced to life imprisonment . The murder of van Gogh had prompted the government to introduce measures to assimilate the country's ethnic minorities, including a requirement for new immigrants to undertake an examination testing their knowledge of Dutch history and language before taking up residence.

Reaction and outlook

The rise in popularity of far-right parties, such as the FP, and far-left parties, such as the SP, appeared to indicate voters’ disaffection with the mainstream parties, precipitating lengthy and difficult negotiations to form a new coalition government. Although most analysts concluded that a governing alliance involving the CDA and PvdA would prove difficult to sustain, because of ideological differences over key issues such as the economy and immigration, such a partnership--plus the support of at least one other party to secure a working majority--was considered a likely outcome.

Historical context

Coalition governments were a regular feature in the Netherlands because a single party had rarely achieved an absolute majority. A three-party centre-left coalition, led by former Prime Minister Andreas Van Agt , had emerged after legislative elections in May 1981, but disputes over economic policies brought the government down in May 1982 . A centre-right coalition led by former Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers was sworn into office in November 1982, and a social-liberal coalition led by former Prime Minister Wim Kok took office in August 1994. The Netherlands was a constitutional monarchy which had been presided over by Queen Beatrix since her coronation in April 1980.

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