Dutch Rally To The Right

In a dramatic shift to the right, Dutch opposition parties won big in Wednesday's elections, including the Christian Democrats and the movement of a slain populist candidate.

Riding a wave of discontent with the country's governing socialists, the Christian Democrats were expected to wind up with 43 seats — up 14 from their current holding in the 150-seat parliament.

With 88.6 percent of the vote counted, party leader Jan Peter Balkenende declared that he was "ready to take on the responsibility" of forming a government.

The upstart party of slain right-wing populist Pim Fortuyn was set to sweep into the legislature with 26 seats — a remarkable feat for a political force that did not exist a few months ago.

Prime Minister Wim Kok's governing socialists were seen plunging from 45 seats to 23, and his Liberal allies from 38 to also to 23, according to the results.

The outcome was a severe defeat for Kok's coalition that brought the Dutch peerless growth since 1994, but was punished for ignoring public concerns about drugs, immigration, welfare abuse and lax law enforcement.

Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) brought those issues to the forefront, tapping into a groundswell of discontent with Holland's ruling politicians and their tolerant policies.

Fortuyn was killed May 6 by a single gunman after doing a campaign radio interview. He was 54. His murder shocked this country of 16 million that is a stranger to political violence and has long prided itself on no-ripple consensus politics.

"It's a wonderful result but there is no real joy. Today we feel like orphans. We've lost our teacher," LPF spokesman Mat Herben told supporters in a hotel lobby in The Hague standing by a framed portrait of Fortuyn and his two pet spaniels.

It was a surprisingly strong showing for the right-wing Christian Democrats. Earlier polls had suggested they would win by a narrow margin over the two major parties of the outgoing coalition, the Labor Party and the Liberals — and over Fortuyn's untested followers.

The elections thrust Balkenende, a 46-year-old Christian philosophy professor, into the role as the likely prime minister-to-be, just eight months after he took over the party.

The results proved Fortuyn's party, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats could marshal a comfortable parliamentary majority for a right-wing government, yet an agreement on a government program would likely be tough to find.

At the outset of voting, Kok told voters that his eight years at the helm brought them "formidable" growth and prosperity. He said the elections "are about my legacy."

In the end, they were more about the legacy of Fortuyn — the openly gay, ex-university professor who was a harsh critic of the government's permissiveness of welfare abusers and tolerant asylum, drug and law enforcement policies.

Defense Minister Frank de Grave, a Liberal, called his party's defeat "heavier than expected." The secretary of the Labor Party, Ruud Koole, said it was the worst result in the party's history. "This is a difficult day for Labor," he said.

The election extended a trend that has seen left-leaning governments tumble in the past 12 months in Italy, Denmark, Portugal and France, with support increasing for populist far-right parties that have exploited concerns about crime, immigration and loss of national identity.

Fortuyn's party was exultant. "This is fantastic," said Mat Herben at his party's election headquarters in The Hague.

"I hope we will be able to reach a government agreement," said Herben, a possible successor to Fortuyn.

The List is a collection of rookies, hand-picked by Fortuyn. Since his slaying, the group has been riven by infighting. The party's newly elected chairman quit Tuesday after causing an uproar by blaming the government for creating an atmosphere of hatred that led to Fortuyn's death.

Irreverent, charismatic and a dapper dresser, Fortuyn attracted a huge following with his brash but ill-defined policies.

Although he was seen abroad as a something of a copy of France's Jean-Marie Le Pen, Fortuyn never fit conveniently into the image of "extreme right-winger."

He called for a halt to immigration, a crackdown on crime and for throwing out what he called the entrenched political elite.

Fortuyn's assassination was a grim end to an election campaign in a country where politicians, except the prime minister, have no bodyguards. On Wednesday, senior political leaders were accompanied by bodyguards as they cast their ballots.

In Rotterdam, people continued to lay wreaths, bouquets and stuffed animals around Fortuyn's elegant three-story house, and voters passed by to pay homage to the slain leader on their way to cast their ballots.

"He just appealed to me. He let something loose," said Marinus Kooijman, a 60-year-old grocer who had voted for Christian Democrats all his life — until Wednesday.