Politics and Elections in the Netherlands: Rutte III era

[jeron]

Thanks to all for answers. On a personal note, it’s pretty tragic that I can actually remember when Jesse Klaver was the Guardian’s latest pin up populist slaying great white hope for Europe and European vAlUeS. RIP vrijheidsvechter 😢

And I remember the Times declaring Baudet kingmaker that same election despite having only 2 seats. It just goes to show the tunnel vision of the British press.

Anyway, Klaver is not a very good campaigner. Last time out he was exposed during the debate. This time out he wasn't really able to do what he does best, which is having a large stage at a university hall and delivers a Jessiah lecture. The fact that PvdD have swung slightly leftwards and more orientated towards becoming "Dark Green" also will not have helped. Thieme was popular with everyone, but for some reason Owenand hasn't dropped the batton.

Klaver's biggest mistake was not going into government jn 2017. It seemed like a smart move at the time and i suppose that he thought he could make the party grow in opposition, but it backfired spectacularly. Gradually the Jessiah image wore off, people lost interest and then Kaag and Volt came along. End of the Jessiah

[jeron]

Is the anti-Orban aspect of it why the socially conservative CU voted for the measure?

No, I think people are mistaken about the position of CU and Denk regarding LGBT-rights and about how socially conservative these parties really are. They regularly support proposals on LGBT-rights, the only parties rejecting these proposals are usually PVV and SGP.

[jeron]

Why did CDA force out Omtzigt instead of making him leader? What a shot in the foot.

Because they think he is a pain in the ass, they already wanted to get rid of him 10 years ago.
CDA is down to 6 seats in the latest polls with lots of voters defecting to BBB or even JA21.

Meanwhile, the government formation is still a mess. VVD and D66 are writing some kind of document which should be the basis for further talks, but even VVD and D66 seem to have quite a lot of disagremeents. Rutte and Kaag have now gone on holiday