Dutch go to provincial polls after shooting horror

THE HAGUE: Dutch voters yesterday head to provincial polls billed as a referendum on Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s policies, after a campaign overshadowed by a possible terror attack on a tram.

Right-wing parties pushed the issue of integration back into the foreground as the country reeled from Monday’s shooting in the city of Utrecht for which a Turkishborn man has been arrested.

The Dutch ballot will be widely watched abroad as a bellwether for European Parliament elections in May in which populist parties are expected to make broad gains.

Following the Utrecht attack, almost all political parties halted campaigning for the elections – which are for provincial bodies but determine the composition of the Dutch senate or upper house of parliament.

Only the populist, anti-EU Forum for Democracy ( FvD), led by Thierry Baudet, continued with a rally in the Hague’s seaside suburb of Scheveningen, drawing sharp criticism from lawmakers.

The young and telegenic Baudet accused Rutte’s government of ‘naive’ immigration policies and told the crowd that a “change of course is needed, otherwise this is going to happen more often in the Netherlands.”

Polls show centre-right premier Rutte’s four-party coalition – which currently carries a slender one- seat senate majority – is headed for major losses when the senate seats are decided.

The head of Dutch socialist party has called the vote a ‘Rutte referendum’, although Rutte has said he will not step down if his coalition loses its majority and therefore needs help to drive through laws. — AFP