Politics and Elections in the Netherlands: coalition agreement presented

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The polls have been incredibly volatile in the Netherlands for some time, with every major party leading in at least a handful of polls. At the moment the trend seems to be random rise in GreenLInks, which I notice have a hot new leader (could explain things). If the Dutch dithering disease continues, I assume next government will be led by Party for the Animals in coalition with the Reformed Political Party or something.

Some questions:

What is the SP's perspective towards Syriza and the crisis?

Could PVV support Rutte as a minority? They can't be that far apart on the migrant issue at this point in time...

Why have the D66 lost their record high polls they had earlier in the parliament? Scandal or typical social liberal snobbery?

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What influence has PvdA had over the government's agenda?

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Yeah, I thought Wim Kok was super popular?

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Wait the Socialists want to lower the income tax as their second priority? Not even "raise the threshold" or "lower income tax on low brackets"?

LOL at the tax cut for elders. How would that even work?

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Possibly heading off-topic, but why is it that Flanders has a heavy amount of populist-rightism, but Wallonia doesn't?

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Is Wilders a hindrance to the PVV at this point?

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I hope this Strik character immediatelly put on some sunglasses and swaggered out the chamber to around of applause and groupies after that burn.

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The Left in France is very established though, while the SP is basically an old Maoist party that latched onto a good populist train in the last two decades or so; so I wouldn't be surprised if it's support was weaker.

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So obviously the PVV's numbers are being inflated due to the current situation, but if the result is anything close to that, the PVV would have to be let in government right? There is a somewhat workable right-wing majority in there: PVV, the VVD, CDA (would probably have to be let back in) and some kind of agreement with SGP and 50Plus (I'm not sure whether CU would want to prop up such a government). Could Wilders be PM or would he use outsized leverage on a minority gov?
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Didn't D66 use to hate, like absolutely loathe, the CDa?

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Is the SP race an ideological/factional clash, or merely personality politics?

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Ritual slaughter? So like all halal/kosher slaughter, or merely those deemed particularly cruel?

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The PdVD constituency reminds me of the German Pirate clientele during the heydays of that party.

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@cranberry

The interesting thing about the Netherlands is a fantastic example of a hyper-rigid pillar based system collapsing in slow-motion. Before this breakdown urban Liberals, socialists, Catholics and Protestants all had entirely separate parties, media, unions, schools, businesses etc. and elections were fairly staid affairs. After the war, as the Dutch ceded Indonesia and old argie-bargies around Papism faded into the distance, the three Christian parties arranged a comfy consensus, occasionally enlisting the other two pillars (who could never grab a majority on their own) but pretty much controlling the "establishment".

But the Christians' outright hubris in their clinging to power made them the first, and most conspicuous, target of depillarisation. D66 is now a a generic soclib party, but was born as an attempt to outright destroy the pillars and the Christian parties of power that embodied them, via reforms like the implementation of a Presidential system. Young people, now educated and with some amount of disposable wealth had no interest in pillars and did as they pleased. A secularising, increasingly floating (the media was becoming more nationalised in the 60's, remember, leading to a more pan-national electorate) voter base forced them to merge out of necessity, forming the new cross-confessional CDA; but they would never get the same influence in society, despite still clinging to power until the 90's.

Around the same time, elements of the right and left escaped from their respective pillars. The populist Farmer's Party was the first iteration of an angry new anti-establishmentarian right - strongly nationalistic, anti-tax and vaguely Poujadist. They were replaced by the misleadingly named Centre Party, their moderate-split the Centre Democrats and - in the new millennium- the sensational rise of Pim Fortun, and then Geert Wilders.

The left did a similar thing. In the 60's the New Left overtook the party conference of the PdVA, to the consternation of the moderate old guard, who did an SDP and split. They joined up with d66 and a BRTD-esque offshot of the Christian parties to try and make an anti-pillar progressive majority, which they failed at. The 70's were muddled through (like many 70's governments) with awkward coalitions, but eventually the party moderated under "neoliberal" Third Wayer Wim Kok, who finally achieved the unthinkable of evicting the Christians from cabinet. Which is were part of the problem started to crop up. In doing so, Labour had to cede the New Left ground - the progressive Christians, destalinised Communists and pacifists - to the newly formed GreenLeft and, most dangerously for them the old "statist left" to the Socialist Party, an old fringe Maoist party repurposed as a populist left party.

Throughout this depillarisation, the most victorious classic party has been the old liberal party, VVD. Previously a victim of pillarisation (the "liberal pillar" was very much the Hufflepuff of pillars), the VVD has managed to expand into huge sections of the electorate (the working class and rurally) they were previously locked out of by the monolithic socialists and Christians. It has now been repackaged as the "conservative party", while both the CDA and Labour are lost and directionless. Rutte has left a very right-wing agenda in office but I don't think for a moment the party is dead in the water. However, in this volatile age of Dutch politics, i think any predictions on the future is laughable.

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fycking hell, government formation is going to be a mess, especially if the migration crisis continues and allows the PVV to continue making political hay. Wilders has burnt his bridges so he can't be in office. The public probably won't want a government that moderates (or acts 'elitist' or is perceived as sanctimonious) on refugees, so GL, D66 and SP are out. (And heck, maybe the Christian Democrats as well under their leadership).

Do the Dutch poll approvals for the party leaders, David? I'd be especially interested in Geert's numbers at the moment.

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Do the PVV want to leave the EU? I thought they just wanted a weaker Union, with more national control over borders.

According to her Wiki page, this Schippers character was elected in 2003, and still-VVD-Geert was her initial "mentor".

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Actually, I was thinking about the early years of D66. They had the fabulous idea that the Netherlans would be a lot more functionable if it looked more like the USA (lol) and so they supported a directly elected President. Which made me think - were (are) the party republicans? Or did they want to keep the King as head of state, and the "President" be merely an elected head of government?

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Is there a quorum? This is the sort of question a lot of normal people wouldn't bother turning out for.

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David a question. When most people think of the Netherlands, after they think of clogs and bikes, rhetll think of drug laws. But as I understand the government is walking back on the liberalisation of the Kok years? Is this true? What are the different parties perspective on the drug issue?

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Is the scooters in relation to the weird habit the Dutch have of riding scooters in bike lanes? Because that really needs to be clamped down on tbh

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So a new testimonial party?

I'm really surprised no Dutch politician has proposed an electoral threshold, like they did in Israel. I mean I'm glad they haven't, because you get crazy weirdos like Animals and DANK and SGP, but still odd.

EDIT: this Kuzu character has a really weird looking head

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Tbf Armenian genocide denial is illegal in France whereas in Israel the genocide is, err, treated with Realpolitik gloves from what I've heard.

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I suppose the PVV know that they're not exactly going to need to form a coalition or anything, an account of being toxic; so they might as well go fully loopy.

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So is DANK an Islamist party or merely a Turkish minority interest group?