In a dramatic shift to the right, Dutch opposition parties won big in Wednesday's elections, including the Christian Democrats and the movement of a slain populist candidate.
Riding a wave of discontent with the country's governing socalist, the Christian Democrats were expected to wind up with 43 seats ¡ª up 14 from their current holding in the 150-seat parliament.
With 88.6% of the vote counted, party leader Jan Peter Balkenende declared that he was "ready to take on the responsibility" of forming a government.
The upstart party of slain right-wing populist Pim Fortuyn was set to sweep into the legislature with 26 seats ¡ª a remarkable feat for a political force that did not exist a few months ago.
Prime Minister Wim Kok's governing socialists were seen plunging from 45 seats to 23, and his Liberal allies from 38 to also to 23, according to the results.
The outcome was a severe defeat for Kok's coalition that brought the Dutch peerless growth since 1994, but was punished for ignoring public concerns about drugs, immigration, welfare abuse and lax law enforcement.
Fortuyn brought those issues to the forefront, tapping into a groundswell of discontent with Holland's ruling politicians and their tolerant policies.
He was killed May 6 by a single gunman after doing a campaign radio interview. He was 54. His murder shocked this country of 16 million that is a stranger to political violence and has long prided itself on no-ripple consensus politics.
It was a surprisingly strong showing for the right-wing Christian Democrats. Earlier polls had suggested they would win by a narrow margin over the two major parties of the outgoing coalition, the Labor Party and the Liberals ¡ª and over Fortuyn's untested followers.
The elections thrust Balkenende, a 46-year-old Christian philosophy professor, into the role as the likely prime minister-to-be, just eight months after he took over the party.
(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2002)
