🇳🇱 Politics and Elections in the Netherlands: General Election (Nov 22)

[RGM2609]

You did mention Timmermans being a drag on GL-PvdA. Why is that, and do you believe they might be performing better with someone else at the top or were they always doomed by their position on the political scene and inner divisions?

[RGM2609]

While I'm not sure we agree on much (if anything), just wanted to say how great this thread has been! It made a complicated mess of an election easy to follow and understand even to uninformed foreigners. Hope today's outcome changes the country for the better!

[RGM2609]

Boy it sure looks like BBB has turned out to be just a flash in the pan. If they end up with just a paltry 4 or 5 seats, do they even survive as a party?

If anything, I'd say that being a small party increases its chances of surviving in the longer term. It may still implode, but I have an even harder time imagining them holding it together if they won 30 seats.

[RGM2609]

Do you think this could have been averted if Omtzigt didn't have his "I want to be PM but then again, I don't" moment?

[RGM2609]

Do you think this could have been averted if Omtzigt didn't have his "I want to be PM but then again, I don't" moment?

Yes, if he had simply said he wanted to be PM and bring the change the Netherlands needs, the dynamic could have been completely different.

Why do you think he didn't do that? It should've been a no-brainer since he formed a party to run in the election and said party was leading in the polls.

[RGM2609]

Do you think this could have been averted if Omtzigt didn't have his "I want to be PM but then again, I don't" moment?

Yes, if he had simply said he wanted to be PM and bring the change the Netherlands needs, the dynamic could have been completely different.

Why do you think he didn't do that? It should've been a no-brainer since he formed a party to run in the election and said party was leading in the polls.

Because he means what he says: he wants Parliament to be the most powerful institution and he wants the government to be merely an executive body, just as the author of our constitution had intended. He believes in the change he preaches. I think that's very noble, but to voters it looked differently.

Guess my experience in Eastern European politics made me too cynical. Seems like a nice enough guy lol.

[RGM2609]

Any more clarity as to which party will come second/third/fourth?

[RGM2609]

Do you think that the cordon sanitaire was so broken that Wilders would have won a direct election against a leftist like Timmermans?

[RGM2609]

"Communist-right"... Well, that's a new one.

[RGM2609]

It is so interesting for me, living in Eastern Europe that the country which the far right/Russian propaganda portrays as a "woke paradise" has such a strong backlash to everything related to wokeness. I wonder if that will change things in the discourse of certain Fifth columnists around here.

[RGM2609]

Given that BBB doesn't seem to be needed, what would be the upside in adding them in? Majority in the Senate?

[RGM2609]

Given that BBB doesn't seem to be needed, what would be the upside in adding them in? Majority in the Senate?

Exactly, although even with them they don't have a majority.

Right. Other than BBB, who is likely to cooperate with the new government in the Senate?

[RGM2609]

Is CDA not a potential partner in the Senate?

[RGM2609]

Is there any particular reason behind Volt losing support in the polls?

[RGM2609]

Is there any particular reason behind Volt losing support in the polls?

They're struggling to receive attention and to differentiate themselves from D66, who are quite visible under Rob Jetten. Volt's party leader Laurens Dassen being quite timid - almost academic - and not very argumentative doesn't help.

Right. If you don't mind me asking further questions about it, I'd be curious what exactly differentiates Volt from D66 after all? Is it just "D66 without having been in government for the past 7 years"?

[RGM2609]

As a proud "lib right", fear our might, the time will come. Many thanks!