Dutch Prime Minister Rutte Wins Election

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was heading towards a fourth term in office as one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders in elections overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

First official results and exit polls suggested his liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, or VVD, would win 36 seats, up from 33 in the last election, of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament.

One of the oldest Christian parties, the Reformed Political Party, or SGP, was due to keep its three seats, a development it called a “blessing.”

SGP leader Kees van der Staaij said numbers of seats are not important to God, who he recalled used Gideon’s small army to reach victory.

“Amid all political changes, we are thankful for what was reached. We hear from the bigger parties that they already wrote two speeches: when they lose and when they win. But we don’t do that. Whatever happens, we trust on the Word of God,” he added.

While the SGP wasn’t likely to join the next government, it is often a crucial partner in government policies in the Dutch scattered political landscape.

FAR-RIGHT

With Rutte’s bloc and other mainstream parties thriving, more far-right parties failed to make a breakthrough.

However, the young nationalist party Forum for Democracy, founded by author and philosopher Thierry Baudet, saw its seats increase from two to eight.

It has crossed the country with a ‘Freedom Caravan’ in hopes of appealing to those angry about coronavirus restrictions.

Rutte defended a night curfew and other restrictive measures as the best way to halt a pandemic that officials claim killed more than 16,000 Dutch people.

The 54-year-old prime minister has now won four elections in a row. He has been in power for more than a decade at the head of three different coalitions.

Rutte could become the country’s longest-serving prime minister if he manages to form a new government.

CONFIDENCE VOTE

He said voters had given his party “an overwhelming vote of confidence” but added it is “forcing us to do everything we can to make a success out of it.”

Rutte added that the “agenda ahead of us is enormous.” Rutte said that “In the coming weeks and months, we have to lead the Netherlands through the corona crisis.”

He was expected to start coalition talks with at least two other factions, including the social-liberal Democrats 66, or D66, which became the second-largest party. He also invited the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party.

Rutte will face tough opposition, including from the Freedom Party of anti-immigration, anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders. His party was forecast to drop three seats to 17, compared to the 2017 election result. “I had, of course, hoped for more than 17 … but I think we are still the third party of the Netherlands,” he said.

Wilders added that his party would likely remain the largest opposition group in parliament.

A record 37 parties took part in the election, but only 17 are expected to win one or more parliament seats.

RUTTE POPULAR

Rutte’s popularity rose sharply last year as he steered his country through the pandemic that plunged the prosperous seafaring nation into recession.

His popularity eroded somewhere in recent weeks amid tensions over the months-long lockdown.

Besides, his government recently resigned over a scandal involving racist tax officials wrongly labeling thousands of families as fraudsters

Rutte told a parent on national television that following the scandal, he had wondered whether it was wise to seek another term in office.

However, “I also saw that many things went very well over the last ten years, and I am very proud of those achievements. And that is why I decided to continue.”

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