On March 15 The Netherlands held a general election, and two months later is still without a government. Our Dutch correspondent H. Numan files this report with an overview of the glacial progress of coalition negotiations, and what the final result is likely to be.
Winners are losers, losers are winners
By H. Numan
The elections in Holland took place on the 15th of March. What has happened since that day? Not a damn thing. Parties* are negotiating. Not all the time, though. Yasser Feras (Jesse Klaver) wants to spend time with his kids. So he insists on ‘daddy days’. No negotiating on a daddy day. Or we don’t negotiate because mommy Klaver died. Rest assured, an ultra-left cabinet is in the making.
The Dutch electorate voted somewhat conservatively. The Labor Party (PvdA) was virtually murdered from 38 seats down to 9 seats. Voters weren’t too happy with the conservatives (VVD) either, they went down from 41 to 33 seats. The PVV won somewhat, but far less than expected: from 15 to only 20 seats. Other winners were the Christian Democrats who gained 6 seats, D66 with 7 seats and the former communist party, now Green Left (GL) won 10 seats. The former Maoist party, now Socialist Party, lost 1 seat.
In theory that result would lead to a center-right coalition. In reality it doesn’t.
In America everybody is throwing mud on Trump. In Holland we simply ignore 1.4 million voters. The PVV is boycotted by all parties. The three main parties (Conservatives, Christian Democrats and D66) don’t even want to speak with Wilders. Every PVV proposal is blocked. The very same proposal is word for word taken up, proposed by another party and then accepted. Just to rub it in. A boycott is a boycott, after all. Oh, Labor announced they no longer boycott the PVV. That’s nice to hear from the grave.
What has happened in the sixty days after the elections? The unthinkable. A complete perversion of democracy. If a conservative party is anything, it is — or was — anti-communist. Not anymore. Mark Rutte tried for 60 days to appease Yasser Feras (Jesse Klaver), who did somersaults and back flips to show how immensely important he now is. Several times he canceled negotiations on Friday, because he wanted to spend time with his kids. He calls those ‘daddy days’. As Friday is the day of prayer for mohammedans and he himself was raised “Roman Catholic”, he wanted on another occasion stop negotiating on Fridays, to show respect. Again on a Friday he didn’t show up because his mommy had passed away. No idea what “Roman Catholics” have with Fridays. Must be a craving for fish.
All that was swallowed by Rutte and his collaborators. They — to a very limited extent — appeared to counter his most bizarre plans and demands, but threw in the towel on immigration. The GL point is unlimited immigration, no questions asked. In reality, Rutte is working to create an extreme-left coalition. Together with the Christian Democrats and D66. They broke off negotiations, but for how long is an open question.
A coalition with the former communists is not (right now) going to happen. That gives Dear Mark a major problem. There isn’t a party willing to join apart from the PVV. The Socialist Party (SP) bluntly said: we don’t work together with the conservatives. Period. Pechtold will not work together with the Christian Union, and said that just as bluntly. The Labor party is still in deep mourning over its demise and is not available. That leaves only one party, the PVV. Which is under boycott.
The Christian Union, by the way, is a bit of weirdo party. They are staunch Calvinists (no shopping on Sundays, no abortion, strict blasphemy laws, etc.), but at the same time follow the gospel of Marx. The difference between GL and the CU is razor thin. They want as many immigrants as GL does, and their economic program is identical.
The negotiator gave all parties (except the PVV) this weekend to think it over, and then we’ll see what comes next. This formation is going to take a very long time. Much longer than usual. The result will be an ultra-left-wing cabinet because that is what Rutte needs. It will take months, because seriously raping and perverting democracy must be done with great care. Especially now, as we are at the point of no return.
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