Dutch prime minister’s conservative party powers to fourth election win

The process of forming a new Dutch governing coalition began yesterday, a day after prime minister Mark Rutte’s conservative party powered to a fourth consecutive victory in a vote held during a nationwide lockdown and dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The feat put Mr Rutte in pole position to lead coalition talks, most likely with another big winner – the centrist, pro-european D66 party led by former diplomat Sigrid Kaag, who danced on a table on Wednesday night when an exit poll showed her party capturing one of its biggest-ever victories.

However those two parties will probably need at least two more partners to form a majority coalition.

According to the national news agency ANP, based on 88 per cent of votes counted, Mr Rutte's party, known by its Dutch acronym VVD, won 35 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament while D66 garnered 24.

Mr Rutte wants to move quickly to hammer out a coronavirus recovery plan before getting into a government blueprint for the new coalition's four-year term.

"We must have plans in place to unlock the country," Mr Rutte said in a virtual meeting on Thursday.

The splintered political landscape in the Netherlands – 17 parties were forecast to have won at least one seat – could make coalition talks difficult.

Party leaders took the first step yesterday by appointing two "scouts," one from Mr Rutte's VVD and a second from D66, to examine different parties' wish lists and investigate possible coalitions ahead of formal talks.

The VVD selected Senator Annemarie Jorritsma, while D66 chose Kajsa Ollongren, who was interior minister and deputy prime minister in Mr Rutte's last Cabinet.

Mr Rutte's victory had been widely predicted even though the election came just two months after his last coalition resigned over a scandal in which the country's tax office wrongfully label led thousands of families who claimed child welfare benefits as fraudsters.

The other big winner of the night was the far-right populist Forum for Democracy, which rose from two to eight seats after its flamboyant leader, Thierry Baudet, campaigned on a pledge to end the country's coronavirus lockdown. "A half million people in the Netherlands have said: we want our lives back. A thunderous blow against the endless lockdowns. A huge victory for freedom," the party tweeted.

Mr Baudet, arriving at parliament for a meeting of party leaders, told reporters he "was actually hoping for more" seats in the election. It was something of a political resurrection for the party that imploded late last year amid reports of antisemitic text messages among its youth wing.

Despite the gains for Mr Baudet, the far-right populist bloc in the Netherlands is unlikely to take part in any new coalition.

Anti-islam politician Geert Wilders, whose Party for Freedom lost three seats and is now the country's third-biggest party, said he would again lead the opposition.

The Green Left party, a big winner in the 2017 election, was forecast to lose half of its 14 seats.