Victorious Dutch conservatives prepared yesterday for coalition talks with slain populist Pim Fortuyn's debutant party, which stormed to second place in elections which underlined Europe's recent shift to the right.
Voters ditched the center-left government of premier Wim Kok in a landslide swing to the conservative Christian Democrats (CDA) on Wednesday in a country better known for its tolerance of euthanasia, gay marriage and prostitution than for political instability.
The labor party, in coalition for eight years with the free-market VVD and D66 liberals, suffered its worst defeat since World War II in a momentous election dominated by voter concerns over crime, immigration and public services.
Now, the Dutch are split over whether the CDA, which took 43 of parliament's 150 seats, should link up with Fortuyn's anti-immigration party, which was due to select a leader to replace their dead founder yesterday.
"In view of the peculiar result, the formation of a coalition will be difficult," the mass circulation Telegraaf newspaper said.
The fatal shooting of Fortuyn as he left a radio station near Amsterdam last week triggered an unprecedented wave of shock and anger throughout the Netherlands and was seen as prompting a significant sympathy vote for his party.
The three-month-old Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) won the second-biggest number of seats with 26. Nearly two in five Dutch want the LPF in a new government, but nearly as many are opposed, a snap opinion poll showed.
The VVD has been tipped as a third potential coalition member. A combination of the CDA, VVD and LPF would have a comfortable parliamentary majority with 92 seats.
CDA leader Jan Peter Balkenende, set to head a new government, said the victory had surpassed all expectations.
"It's been an unbelievable evening. The CDA is back," Balkenende told jubilant supporters in the Hague.
"In just a few months we have shown the vitality of Christian Democracy."
Asked if he would team up with Fortuyn's party, the former economics professor said: "Looking at the results, the voters have given a clear signal. But we'll have to discuss proposals and stability, especially with LPF."
Coalition building in the fragmented Dutch political arena is a slow process and often takes two to three months.
Formed in March by the openly gay, shaven-headed former academic, Fortuyn's fledgling party gasped at its own success in the most astonishing Dutch election in living memory.
An animal rights activist has been charged with killing Fortuyn, whose anti-immigration and anti-Islam views stoked controversy in a country with a sizeable immigrant population.
"It's a wonderful result but there is no real joy. Today we feel like orphans. We've lost our teacher," LPF spokesman Mat Herben told supporters in a chic hotel in The Hague, standing by a framed portrait of Fortuyn and his two pet spaniels.
"If Pim had lived, we would have been the biggest party."
The Labour party was also due to choose a new leader yesterday. The once mighty party, credited with social reform, job creation and steady economic growth, lost almost half its seats to tie with the VVD for third place on 23 seats.
All three ruling parties hemorrhaged votes, extending a Europe-wide trend that has seen left-leaning governments tumble in the past 12 months in Italy, Denmark, Portugal and France, as support grows for the populist far right.
The successor to Kok as party leader, Ad Melkert, announced he would step down to make way for new blood in the party.
"It's a disastrous result," said Labour's campaign manager, Jacques Monasch. "It's beyond a landslide."
The VVD's parliamentary party leader, Hans Dijkstal, indicated that he, like Melkert, would step down.
Pundits had predicted that Fortuyn's murder would prompt a big voter showing. Turnout was estimated at around 80 percent, significantly higher than four years ago.
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