As 88% of votes were counted, on the morning of Thursday, June 10th, Mark Rutte’s liberals had 32 seats – only one over the socialists led by Job Cohen, former mayor of Amsterdam. The Christian-democrats were the great losers of these elections, going from 41 to 21 seats out of a total of 150. Jan-Peter Balkendende, Prime Minister since 2002, resigned from the leadership of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) on Wednesday night. On the other hand, Geert Wilders is the greatest winner, his freedom party coming in third with 23 seats instead of 9 before. This victory makes it impossible to avoid him during the negotiations that are going to open to form a coalition government. The only problem is that the socialists refuse to govern with Wilders while the liberals, who campaigned against the PVDA, are going to have to make huge compromises if they want to govern with the Populist Party, even if they agree on immigration and integration issues. Indeed, Wilders refuses the pension reform even as a majority came out in Parliament during the previous legislative term in favor of increasing retirement age from 65 to 67.
a coalition government. The only problem is that the socialists refuse to govern with Wilders while the liberals, who campaigned against the PVDA, are going to have to make huge compromises if they want to govern with the Populist Party, even if they agree on immigration and integration issues. Indeed, Wilders refuses the pension reform even as a majority came out in Parliament during the previous legislative term in favor of increasing retirement age from 65 to 67.
Mark Rutte, who campaigned fo
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