THE HAGUE, March 21 (Xinhua)-- With 94 percent of the votes counted on Thursday, the right-wing party Forum voor Democratie seems on its way to become the biggest party during the provincial elections in the Netherlands, while the government coalition lost its majority.
Newcomers Forum voor Democratie (FvD) came out on 12 of 75 seats in the senate, according to the latest preliminary result, together with liberal party VVD of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. However, the FvD collected more votes so far.
The Forum voor Democratie was established in 2016, has anti-Europe stands, wants a "Nexit'" a halt on migration and denies there is a climate problem.
"We will finally become in charge again in our country," FvD leader Thierry Baudet said in his speech in Zeist. "We will not rest until democracy is recovered and the party cartel is broken."
With the rise of Forum voor Democratie, the other right-wing party Party for Freedom PVV suffered a loss. The party of leader Geert Wilders dropped from 9 to 5 seats in the senate.
The government coalition, consisting of the VVD, the Christian Democrats (CDA), the democrats (D66) and the Christian Union (CU), go down in the senate from a slight majority of 38 of the 75 seats to 31 seats. The VVD dropped from 13 to 12, D66 from 10 to 6, the CDA from 12 to 9 and the CU rises from 3 to 4, according to the latest preliminary result. Green leftists GroenLinks rose from 4 to 9, Labor PvdA lost one seat from 8 to 7 and the Socialist Party SP went down from 9 to 4.
The results of the provincial elections are of national importance, because the members of the provincial councils elect the members of the senate on May 27 this year. So therefore indirectly the outcome of the provincial ballot will decide on the senate composition.
The political balance in the new senate will be of great importance for the political power of the current government coalition. The Dutch have a bicameral system with two houses of parliament, the house of representatives, the Tweede Kamer, and the senate, the Eerste Kamer. A majority in the senate is crucial for passing new laws, because for law-making in the Netherlands a majority is needed in both the house of representatives and the senate.
Rutte will therefore have to start looking for new partners in the senate, but he was optimistic. "I think this country can still be governed with this result in the forthcoming years," the prime minister said.
