Elections in the Netherlands

[Vautrin]

The day is dawing near. Wednesday, November 22nd there will be general elections for parliament in the Netherlands. After that (we don't have a president), goverment will be formed. We don't have a district system, so mo party will get an absolute majority. 2 or more parties will have to cooperate, to form a majority government.

Not a single issue has been raised seriously (other than for rhetorical purposes) in the campaigns of the 11 parties that are currently represented in parliament. Mostly it has been mudslinging, not unlike the US it seems.

The options:
1. Left wing coalition. Which would be a limited social-democratic program. They would not have much say in real issues, because of EU regulations et cetera. Unlikely as this coalition will get about 48 % of the vote max.

2. Right wing coalition. More of the same. Seems to be getting around 52% of the votes; but many right wing parties are highly critical of each other (most notably a renegade from the Tory party), so that is unlikely as well.

3. Center-right coalition. The main social-democratic party, and the christian-democrats. Unlikely as their leaders Jan-Peter "Harry Potter" Balkenende and Wouter "Nice Butt" Bos don't have much political chemistry at all. They probably could drink each other's blood... Plus they disagree on all major issues.

Interestingly enough the right wing parties seem to be losing votes, compared to the left wing. The formation of government can take a long time. I think the longest formation took 9 months. But with things being as they are, new elections may be held in March or something like that, because none of the parties feels it can form a stable government.

We will see how everything will turn out. Noone knows, and "tactical" voting seems to be going to unprecedented highs. Just to avoid Harry Potter to get a fourth term, or Mr. Nice Butt to become the Prime Minister.



(Perhaps this should be moved to the politics section, depending on the nature of comments the thread generates).

[Vautrin]

Great . None of the options have a majority. That means that government formation will be a hard thing; despite government resting on a majority in parliament, it will have a hard time to gain popular support. Which is the last thing the country needs. Practically all issues will have to be solved by a future government, which is divided in itself.

Unlikely that any major improvements will be made to the existing laws; many of which are in dire need of improvement. Some serious disasters in health care, care for the elderly, civil liberties are about to happen. If I were not planning on leaving already, I would actually seriously start wondering about the option.