Cynicism time:
Rutte knew this was on the table and let the government collapse on purpose (it was very strange at the time why he would make an ultimatum out of an issue all coalition partners agreed on could be solved). Now we will likely have a hard-right prime minister because of the career wishes of Rutte. Super gaaf.
Wasn’t Rutte hard right enough, you guys are going further to the right? 😱
Rutte’s centre right party took a major hit last election, the left parties had their own struggles, and the racist “freedom party” almost doubled in size (growing even bigger than Rutte’s party the term before)…
With a coalition government it isn’t quite the all-or-nothing situation here like in the US and UK, but it’s still sad to see.
Election results, in case you’re curious. It shows both the 2021 and '23 results.
- PVV: racist freedom party
- VVD: Rutte’s former party
- D66: Democrats
- GL/PvdA: new Left/labour union party
- NSC: offshoot of the Christian democrat party (CDA)
- BBB: radicalised farmer’s party
(Some of the above may have been editorialized)
