March 18, 2015
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch voters dealt a blow to Prime Minister Mark Rutte's reform agenda for the final two years of his second term in office Wednesday, with a provincial election exit poll showing he will soon struggle to cobble together a majority in Parliament's upper house.
The results appeared to be a ballot box punishment for years of austerity measures by Rutte, even as those reforms seem to be bearing fruit with the Dutch economy now showing strong signs of recovery.
According to an Ipsos poll carried out for national broadcaster NOS, Rutte's Liberal Party lost 3.8 percentage points of its vote compared to provincial elections four years ago. The vote is significant because provincial aldermen elected Wednesday will, in turn, choose a new Senate on May 26.
The exit poll, with a margin of error of two percent, suggested that the Liberals could lose four of their 16 seats in the 75-seat Senate. Rutte's junior coalition partner Labor fared far worse, shedding 7.3 percentage points of its vote or six of its 14 seats.
The Christian Democrats were running neck and neck with Rutte's Liberals and the centrist Democrats 66 also registered strong gains. Labor Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem called it a disappointing result for his party.
"We have asked a lot of people in recent years. In part that was unavoidable because we came into office at the deepest point of the (financial) crisis," he told NOS. He conceded that it would now be tough to push through reforms.
Rutte's two-party coalition already lacks a majority in the Senate and relies on three opposition parties — known as the constructive opposition — to help pass new laws. But the exit poll suggested that even that ad-hoc coalition will soon no longer command a majority in the upper house, putting in question the government's ability to push legislation through both houses of parliament.
The Freedom Party of anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders edged lower and was forecast to lose one of its 10 Senate seats. Elections for the lower house of parliament are not due until May 2017.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch voters dealt a blow to Prime Minister Mark Rutte's reform agenda for the final two years of his second term in office Wednesday, with a provincial election exit poll showing he will soon struggle to cobble together a majority in Parliament's upper house.
The results appeared to be a ballot box punishment for years of austerity measures by Rutte, even as those reforms seem to be bearing fruit with the Dutch economy now showing strong signs of recovery.
According to an Ipsos poll carried out for national broadcaster NOS, Rutte's Liberal Party lost 3.8 percentage points of its vote compared to provincial elections four years ago. The vote is significant because provincial aldermen elected Wednesday will, in turn, choose a new Senate on May 26.
The exit poll, with a margin of error of two percent, suggested that the Liberals could lose four of their 16 seats in the 75-seat Senate. Rutte's junior coalition partner Labor fared far worse, shedding 7.3 percentage points of its vote or six of its 14 seats.
The Christian Democrats were running neck and neck with Rutte's Liberals and the centrist Democrats 66 also registered strong gains. Labor Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem called it a disappointing result for his party.
"We have asked a lot of people in recent years. In part that was unavoidable because we came into office at the deepest point of the (financial) crisis," he told NOS. He conceded that it would now be tough to push through reforms.
Rutte's two-party coalition already lacks a majority in the Senate and relies on three opposition parties — known as the constructive opposition — to help pass new laws. But the exit poll suggested that even that ad-hoc coalition will soon no longer command a majority in the upper house, putting in question the government's ability to push legislation through both houses of parliament.
The Freedom Party of anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders edged lower and was forecast to lose one of its 10 Senate seats. Elections for the lower house of parliament are not due until May 2017.
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