Dutch police free Somalis detained after terror alert - Summary

Tue, 28 Dec 2010

Amsterdam - All but one of 12 Somalis taken into police custody during a Christmas Eve terrorist crackdown have been released, Dutch prosecutors said Tuesday.

An investigative judge ruled Tuesday that a 29-year-old man of Somali descent must remain in detention for a further three days, while investigations continue.

Two Somalis, aged 47 and 44, are still considered suspects but there was not enough evidence to warrant them remaining in custody, prosecutors said.

There was nothing to link the other nine, aged between 19 and 48, to terrorist activities, prosecutors added.

Police arrested the 12 men of Somali origin on December 24 in the port city of Rotterdam, following an alert by the secret service, the AIVD.

Police found no explosives or weapons in raids conducted at the same time as the arrests, despite a warning from the AIVD that a terrorist attack was imminent.

Authorities declined to confirm a report in the Dutch daily De Telegraaf on Tuesday that the suspects were believed to be planning to shoot down an Apache military helicopter.

The paper cited a "reliable source" in AIVD, who said men were targeting the airbase of Gilze-Rijen, in the south of the country.

The report claimed the men were planning to use a portable rocket launcher, which was to be imported from Belgium, Denmark or another European country.

"Simply put: the only thing they were missing was the equipment to shoot something down," the security source told the paper.

There are 85 helicopters stationed at the Gilze-Rijen airbase, many of which have been used in NATO missions in Afghanistan in recent years.

The shooting-down of one of the helicopters could therefore have significant symbolic importance in the eyes of Islamist terrorists, the report said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359939,terror-alert-summary.html.

Five Somali terror suspects to be released in Netherlands - Summary

Sun, 26 Dec 2010

The Hague/Rotterdam - Dutch prosecutors on Sunday announced that they would shortly release five of the 12 Somali men arrested on Christmas Eve for allegedly planning a terrorist attack, after their interrogations invalidated the suspicions against them.

Their release was expected to still take place on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, relatives of the 12 detainees had protested their innocence to the media.

The men had "nothing to do with terrorism," the brother of one of the men told the daily De Telegraaf.

The arrests took place in the port city of Rotterdam after the Dutch secret service, AIVD, said it had concrete evidence of planned attacks.

It had proof that a "number of Somalis were planning to carry out an attack in the Netherlands in the near future," the AIVD said according to the public prosecutor disclosure on Saturday.

The public prosecutor was expected to announce on Monday what would next happen to the men, all aged between 19 and 48.

Police searched an internet cafe, four flats and two hotel rooms in Friday's raids, confiscating 11 computers - but failed to find any explosives or weapons. The target of the planned attacks also remained unclear, prosecutors said.

"We are normal, hard-working people. It must be a big misunderstanding," a man named Nuur told reporters in Rotterdam.

According to De Telegraaf, his brother Osman M F is among those arrested. He is reportedly the owner of the internet cafe.

Nuur, who has lived legally in the Netherlands for 12 years, said his brother arrived in the country from Germany six years ago. He had German citizenship, he said.

Dutch authorities did not confirm the report.

Several of the Somali suspects had acquired Dutch citizenship, a police spokesman said Saturday. Six of them had lived in Rotterdam, five had no fixed address and one had traveled to the Netherlands from Denmark.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359739,released-netherlands-summary.html.

Family of Somalis arrested in Netherlands protest innocence

Sun, 26 Dec 2010

The Hague/Rotterdam - Relatives of 12 Somali men arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack protested their innocence to the media on Sunday.

The men had "nothing to do with terrorism" the brother of one of the men told the daily De Telegraaf.

The arrests took place on Christmas Eve in the port city of Rotterdam after the Dutch secret service, AIVD, said it had concrete evidence of planned attacks.

It had proof that a "number of Somalis were planning to carry out an attack in the Netherlands in the near future," the AIVD said according to the public prosecutor disclosure on Saturday.

The public prosecutor is due to announce on Monday what next happens to the men, all aged between 19 and 48.

Police searched an internet cafe, four flats and two hotel rooms in Friday's raids, confiscating 11 computers - but failed to find any explosives or weapons. The target of the planned attacks also remained unclear, prosecutors said.

"We are normal, hard-working people. It must be a big misunderstanding," a man named Nuur told reporters in Rotterdam. According to De Telegraaf his brother Osman M F is among those arrested. He is reportedly the owner of the internet cafe.

According to Nuur, who has lived legally in the Netherlands for 12 years, his brother arrived in the country from Germany six years ago. He had German citizenship, he said.

Dutch authorities did not confirm the report.

Several of the Somali suspects had acquired Dutch citizenship, a police spokesman said Saturday. Six of them had lived in Rotterdam, five had no fixed address and one had traveled to the Netherlands from Denmark.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359716,arrested-netherlands-protest-innocence.html.

Dutch government welcomes first export from Gaza

01/12/2010

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Following the first shipment of strawberries and carnations from Gaza under a Dutch government program to support local farmers prohibited from exporting goods under Israel's siege, officials from The Netherlands consulate said they were "pleased" and said they hoped the continued export of limited goods would continue smoothly.

Dutch Representative to the Palestinian Authority Jack Twiss Quarles van Ufford said in a statement that the successful export was “the best possible reward for the efforts invested by the farmers involved, who together with the staff of the Agricultural Development Association (PARC) are the backbone of this project."

Permission for export was arranged by Dutch officials during talks with the Israeli government, and constitute the sole export item from Gaza since 2007.

In 2007, farmers in Gaza were forced to feed carnations to livestock after export permission was denied and 2008, only one shipment of carnations was permitted out of Gaza ahead of Valentine's Day in February. In 2009, Dutch consular officials secured permission for regular exports of both strawberries and carnations.

This year, officials said that they were attempting to secure additional permission to export cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers. In late November officials said they were hopeful that permission would be granted, but the latest statement noted negotiations were ongoing.

"We are looking forward to a smooth continuation of the exports throughout the season, but we also hope the first shipments are a step towards a broadening of opportunities for Gazan businesses to export their products, so they can restore their links to the international market," Twiss Quarles van Ufford said.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=337990.

Dutch politician, Muslim critic plans new film, but after elections

Amsterdam - A leading Dutch politician and critic of Islam said Wednesday he plans to release a second movie about the spread of Islam, but not until after Dutch elections in June, local media reported. Fitna, released in March 2008 by Geert Wilders, was the source of much controversy, focusing as it did on the politician's concerns about the spread of radical Islam and the alleged "Islamization" of the Netherlands.

Now he plans to do the same again.

"Fitna 2 will be spectacular, but we do not manage to release it as planned before the elections," the leader of the Freedom Party PVV said.

Wilders said the sequel to his 2008 film focuses on the consequences of mass migration from Muslim countries, freedom of expression and the Sharia or Muslim law.

The lawmaker previously indicated he received help from professionals in the US to make his film.

Remarks Wilders made about Islam in Fitna are used in the trial currently brought against the lawmaker for alleged discrimination and incitement to hatred.

An Amsterdam court is deciding whether Wilders violated Dutch law by calling the Koran a "fascist book" and Islam a "backward culture," expressions he did among others in his film.

Wilders' Freedom Party, first established in 2006, entered parliament with 9 seats following general elections that year.

Opinion polls indicate the PVV would receive at least 24 seats in parliament if a general election were held today.

On February 20, the ruling Dutch coalition of Christian Democrats, Labor and Christian Union collapsed over the extension of the country's mission to Afghanistan, resulting in early elections on June 9.

Last week, the PVV achieved a breakthrough in two local elections. In The Hague, the party became the second largest party, while in Almere, a city east of Amsterdam, the PVV became the biggest party.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313353,dutch-politician-muslim-critic-plans-new-film-but-after-elections.html.

Icelandic voters say "no" to neoliberal debt payback deal

Partial results from a referendum in Iceland suggest voters have given a resounding "no" to a deal in which Iceland would have paid Britain and the Netherlands billions of euros.

This would have been to cover the compensation the two countries paid to their citizens who lost money due to the collapse of the Icesave bank.

However, with nearly a third of the votes counted, more than 90 percent of Icelandic voters have rejected the deal.

The British and Dutch governments want reimbursement of $5.2 billion they paid in compensation to customers after the failure of Icesave bank, which folded in 2008.

Talks between the three countries broke down on Friday before an agreement could be reached.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120231§ionid=351020606.

Brits protest anti-Islam Dutch lawmaker visit

Hundreds of people have gathered outside the British parliament to protest Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders' visit, aimed at spreading Islamophobia.

The protest erupted after Wilders, who is visiting Britain upon an invitation by far-right UK Independence Party leader Lord Pearson, screened his anti-Islamic film 'Fitna' in the House of Lords.

The far-right filmmaker sent shockwaves through both secular and faith-based communities when his defamatory film linking Islam to extremism was first posted on the internet in 2008.

In 2009, British officials refused the 46-year-old politician entry into the county denouncing him as a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society."

But the ban was overturned in October after he appealed the decision.

Fitna, which means ordeal, also drew strong criticism from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who called the 17-minute movie "offensively anti-Islamic."

Infamous for his anti-Islamic ideas, Wilders has also calls for a ban on the Holy Qur'an.

Last year, also a court appeal in Amsterdam ordered prosecution against Wilder for "the incitement to hatred and discrimination."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120181§ionid=351020601.

'Tomorrow the whole country' - Wilders on the rise - Feature

Amsterdam - At least the Dutch are as animal-friendly as ever: The Party for Animals (PvdD), which lobbies for humane treatment for all creatures great and small, managed to boost their number of seats in the Dutch communal elections on Wednesday to 26. "We are getting stronger," PvdD leader Marianne Thieme rejoices. Such joy cannot be said to prevail among of the Dutch Muslim Party (NMP), which seeks to promote trust and understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims. The NMP did not gain a single seat in the elections, whose clear winner is the Muslim-hater Geert Wilders.

Wilders, a 46-year-old insurance agent and qualified lawyer, declared a historic victory at the election celebrations of his Freedom Party (PVV) in the city of Almere.

It was in this city, not far from Amsterdam, that the PVV managed to emerge from scratch as the strongest party in the town council, overtaking the social-democratic Dutch Labour Party (PvdA).

And in The Hague's city council the PVV were again hot-on-the- heels of the PVdA, who have governed the city for decades, becoming the second biggest party.

Wilders can hardly wait until June 9, when the Netherlands is due to hold elections to the "Tweede Kamer," the lower house of parliament.

"This success is our springboard to victory on June 9," Wilders shouted to his supporters, who have nicknamed their blond leader Mozart, at the party in Almere.

His supporters are, however, not suspected of listening to classical music.

The political science institute at the University of Tilburg considers Wilders' party, founded in 2006, a "non-democratic, neo- right-wing extremist organisation with an authoritarian leadership."

Today, the PVV has nine of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. Recent surveys suggest that it might win 24 to 27 seats on June 9.

"We will be the strongest party," Wilders prophesied to the cheering crowd in Almere. "We will reconquer the Netherlands!"

Wilders' speeches have something of the tone of an earlier era of political rhetoric, which might be recognized from Nazi propaganda films. Wilders could be imagined in one of these films, shouting "Today Almere and The Hague, tomorrow the whole of the Netherlands!"

While Wilders is planning his route into parliament, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats are still licking their wounds after their coalition government broke down two weeks ago. They had been in government for three years until they split after a fight over the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan.

Wilders enjoys slamming the parties in power.

"The leftist elite still believes in a multicultural society, in cosying up to criminals, in development aid and in a European superstate with high taxes," he said. "But the rest of the Netherlands has a completely different opinion."

According to political scientist Meindert Fennema, who has just written a biography of Wilders called De Tovenaarsleerling, (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), lambasting the "elite" is a well-proven strategy of Wilders to attract voters.

"The PVV's strength lies in its self-representation as an uncouth, uncultivated political outcast," Fennema says.

PVV supporters are mainly "hard working people with a relatively low education," he adds.

According to Fennema, this is why Wilders successfully focused on three issues in his campaign: Railing against Muslim immigrants, exaggerating security problems and promising to prevent the raising of the retirement age from 65 to 67.

It is without doubt not just the dramatic loss of trust in the political establishment amid the economic crisis that has benefited Wilders.

It is hard to ignore the failure of the state's soft stance on Muslim immigrants who have been presented with countless integration schemes.

Public funding for mosques and Muslim schools has happily been accepted by the beneficiaries. However, advocates of a strict dissociation from western life-style often have the biggest say in such places.

Wilders' alternative proposal to current integration policy sounds like a call to civil war. Mosques should be shut down, the "fascist" Koran and headscarfs in public places banned. "Decent" citizens should form vigilante groups to fight against rampaging Muslim youths, whom Wilders calls "Moroccan street terrorists."

Since January 20, Wilders has been on trial for charges of fomenting racial hatred.

But a criminal process might be the wrong approach to tackle the populist's upsurge, critics say. And they might be right: Since the beginning of the trial, public approval of Wilders has surged.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312490,tomorrow-the-whole-country--wilders-on-the-rise--feature.html.

Dutch Freedom Party set for local election breakthrough

Amsterdam - The Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), known for it harsh stance on Islam and migrants, was set to achieve a major election breakthrough in two cities on Wednesday. Opinion polls suggest the party - standing in local and municipal elections for the first time - is likely to win the Dutch city of Almere and come second in the Hague.

Almere is the Netherlands' fifth largest city.

The PVV is most famous for its controversial leader, Gert Wilders, who has courted publicity with his anti-Islam film Fitna.

Turnout nationally in the 390 municipal elections is expected to be around 50 per cent, although slightly higher - 60 per cent - in the Hague and Almere.

Voting booths close at 9 pm (2000 GMT) with the first exit polls are due to be released by 10 pm (2100 GMT).

The Freedom Party, first established in 2006, entered parliament with 9 seats following general elections that year. Opinion polls indicate the PVV would receive at least 24 seats in parliament if a general election were held today.

Early general elections in the Netherlands are set to take place on June 9 after the government coalition of Christian Democrats, Labor and Christian Union fell February 20 over extension of the country's military mission in Afganistan.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312232,dutch-freedom-party-set-for-local-election-breakthrough.html.

Leader of Kurdish organization arrested trying to enter Netherlands

Amsterdam - Dutch police arrested an alleged top member of the Kurdish resistance movement PKK as he tried to enter the Netherlands, his lawyer told local media Friday. Hasan Adir, who allegedly heads PKK operations in Germany, was arrested while driving from Germany to Venlo, a town in the south- east of the country near the Dutch-German border.

Turkey claims Adir, who resides in Germany, is a leading figure in the PKK or Kurdistan Workers Party, a separatist movement defined as terrorist under Turkish law.

The arrest took already place on January 19, his lawyer Bart Nooitgedacht said. Turkey has meanwhile asked for Adir's extradition.

The Dutch Justice Ministry confirmed Adir's arrest and said an extradition hearing is due to take place in the court in the southern town of Roermond on March 18.

Nooitgedacht says his client will protest extradition because he fears he would be tortured or killed in Turkey. He claims Turkish officials already tortured him before and that he fled to Germany after Turkish officials killed several of his relatives.

Nooitgedacht also says Germany has effectively acknowledged his client's fears are legitimate and that this is why his current country of residence also refused to extradite him.

"A German court has already established my client runs the risk of being tortured. Turkey considers him to be a state risk and as someone who can provide information about a terrorist organization," Nooitgedacht said.

The lawyer added Adir was "never involved in illegal business. He is a political activist and protests the fact the Dutch are treating him like a terrorist."

Turkey claims Adir is an important and leading figure in the PKK. In 2004, a German court sentenced him to two years and eight months imprisonment for involvement in PKK-related violent activities.

The Kurdish Workers Party PKK is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States.

The PKK, formed in the late 1970s with the aim of creating an independent Kurdistan, has been engaged in an armed struggle against Turkey that has claimed thousands of lives.

Turkey, which fought a long and bloody war against Kurdish separatists in the 1990s, has been urging EU nations to crack down harder on offshoots of the PKK, which draws a significant part of its funding from Kurdish migrants working in rich nations.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311424,leader-of-kurdish-organization-arrested-trying-to-enter-netherlands.html.

Dutch Freedom Party ready to govern, claims Wilders

Amsterdam - The hard-right Dutch Freedom Party is ready to govern the Netherlands, party leader Geert Wilders said Sunday, in the wake of the collapse of the country's coalition government. Wilders, speaking to local media, welcomed the fall of Jan Peter Balkenende's government.

"I had hoped for this day for a long time and it arrived after all. We can now wave the flags to celebrate. The worst Dutch government ever did not deserve to govern one more day," Wilders said.

The leader of the Freedom Party, known for its harsh stance on Islam and migrants, said the outgoing government had excelled only in "breaking mass immigration records."

"This government damaged the economy, raised taxes and supported Islam. Cabinet members fought openly with each other on the street," Wilders said...

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310422,dutch-freedom-party-ready-to-govern-claims-wilders.html.

Dutch MP cries foul as court rejects his witnesses

Thu, 04 Feb 2010

The Dutch lawmaker and producer of the anti-Islamic 'Fitna' movie, Geert Wilders, claims he has been denied the right to a fair trial.

He made the remark after the Amsterdam District Court rejected most of his requested defense witnesses, saying that he could only call three witnesses out of the 18 he had sought.

He said that he was "angry and disappointed" with Wednesday's hearing, arguing that the ruling placed the right of the Europeans to speak what they wish about Islam in jeopardy.

"I know that I spoke the truth and didn't say anything punishable," he claimed, vowing to "fight like a lion."

“This court is not interested in the truth. This court doesn't want me to have a fair trial. I can't have any respect for this. This court would not be out of place in a dictatorship,” said the far-right politician in a statement, following the hearing.

Prosecutors had initially declined to charge Wilders, but an appeals court ordered prosecutors to put the MP on trial, insisting that politicians could not make "statements which create hate and grief."

Wilders is on trial for his provocative short documentary film, Fitna, which features passages from the Koran along with footages of terror attacks. The film's screening in the Netherlands in 2008 provoked Muslim sentiments and prompted massive protests across the world.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117861§ionid=351020605.

Dutch want bodyscanners checks on European flights

Amsterdam - The Dutch want to introduce so-called full- body scanners on all intra-European flights, Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said Thursday following talks with European Union (EU) colleagues in Toledo, Spain. The Dutch Justice minister also wants EU-countries to transfer passenger data before takeoff, comparable with the data the US requires from all incoming passengers under the so-called Passenger Name Record (PNR) system.

"I want to increase civil aviation security," Hirsch Ballin said in comments monitored in Amsterdam.

He added that extra security measures were needed after the failed Christmas Day bomb attack on a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam.

In the aftermath of that attempted bombing, the Dutch were the first EU country to announce the introduction of full-body scanners for all US-bound passengers.

Schiphol Airport had already been testing 15 of the scanners for several months. The scanners are a type of X-Ray machine allowing security staff to look through people's clothes, seeing them naked.

Arguing the machines would compromise personal privacy, the European Parliament halted the previously planned obligatory use of the scanners for all passengers at Schiphol Airport in 2008.

The Dutch have since adjusted the body scanners' software so that it screens the images for suspicious objects without ground control personnel looking at the images.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305058,dutch-want-bodyscanners-checks-on-european-flights.html.

Plane carrying Haitian children lands in the Netherlands - Summary

Amsterdam - A plane carrying 106 Haitian children due for adoption arrived in the Netherlands Thursday afternoon, the Netherlands Adoption Foundation NAS confirmed Thursday. "This is a crucial moment," Letje Vermunt, spokeswoman for the Netherlands Adoption Foundation NAS told the German Press Agency...

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305060,plane-carrying-haitian-children-lands-in-the-netherlands--summary.html.

Islam critic Geert Wilders goes on trial in Netherlands

Amsterdam - The trial of Dutch member of parliament and Islam critic Geert Wilders for discrimination and incitement to hatred opened in an Amsterdam court on Wednesday. The court is to decide whether the leader of the liberal-rightist Freedom Party PVV violated Dutch law by calling the Koran a "fascist book" and Islam a "backward culture."

At the start of proceedings, the presiding judge said it had been "suggested" that the court had already convicted Wilders before its first hearings. He would therefore "like to emphasize that only after the last word in these hearings has been said, the court will deliberate about its decision."

In his opening statement, Wilders' lawyer Bram Moskowicz questioned why the trial was taking place in Amsterdam rather than in The Hague, where his client works.

Most of the complaints filed against Wilders since 2006 were related to remarks he made as a lawmaker in the Hague-based parliament, he said.

Moskowicz also argued that Wilders' remarks about Islam were made only in the context of his work as a lawmaker, and that he never spoke "a titre personnel," or in his personal capacity.

Prosecutors claim Wilders' 16-minute internet video Fitna, released in March 2008, incites people to hatred against Muslims. The film warns against the spread of radical Islam and the alleged "Islamization" of the Netherlands.

Wilders faces a maximum of 16 months imprisonment or a fine of 10,000 euros (14,000 dollars) if convicted on all the charges.

Almost 6 per cent of the Netherlands' 16.5 million inhabitants are Muslim.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304773,islam-critic-geert-wilders-goes-on-trial-in-netherlands.html.

Dutch warship under way to Haiti with relief supplies

The Hague - The Netherlands has sent a warship carrying drinking water, food and medicine to Haiti as part of international efforts to assist the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation. The MS Pelikaan with a crew of 80 was capable of operating independently, the Defense Ministry said Saturday. It was carrying boats and cars which would be used to distribute the aid. Marines were to provide protection for aid workers.

The Netherlands has already sent an plane with aid to Haiti. Due to the inflow of aid flights from other countries, it could however not land at the airport in the capital Port-au-Prince and had to land on the island of Curacao in the Dutch Antilles.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304096,dutch-warship-under-way-to-haiti-with-relief-supplies.html.

EU president pays first official visit to Netherlands

Amsterdam - European Union (EU) president Herman Van Rompuy is to pay his first official visit to the Netherlands Wednesday. He is to meet with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, to discuss among others European economic developments. He would also meet the chairmen of the Netherlands' lower and upper houses of parliament.

Van Rompuy took office as the first president of the EU on December 1.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302318,eu-president-pays-first-official-visit-to-netherlands.html.

Dutch Freedom Party wants minaret ban in Netherlands

Amsterdam - The rightist Freedom Party PVV said Monday it would ask the Dutch government to hold a referendum on banning the construction of minarets, following a similar vote in Switzerland. On Sunday, a large majority of Swiss voters cast ballots in favor of banning construction of the slender towers attached to mosques, despite opposition to such a move by the government.

"We will call upon the government to make a similar referendum possible in the Netherlands," PVV leader Geert Wilders told Dutch daily Volkskrant.

Congratulating Switzerland on what he called the "great result of the minaret referendum," Wilders said: "If the government is unwilling to hold a referendum, the PVV will present its own bill to parliament. What is possible in Switzerland should also be possible here."

The PVV, known for its criticism on Islam and migrants, currently holds nine seats in the 150-member legislature.

Opinion polls show that if elections were held today, the party would win 27 seats, making it the second largest after the Christian Democrats on 35 seats.