Oct. 31 (UPI) — Rob Jetten, leader of the Dutch centrist-liberal D66 party, is likely to become the next prime minister of the Netherlands.
The election hasn’t been declared final, but analysis shows that the second-place Party for Freedom, led by Geert Wilders, can’t win. Wilders is a far-right, anti-Muslim candidate. D66 is 15,155 votes ahead of the Freedom party with 99.7% of votes counted.
As of Thursday, the vote was essentially tied, but D66 surged ahead.
Wilders complained that news analysis has decided the result so far and not the election council. “What arrogance not to wait for that,” the BBC reported. He has also claimed election tampering, posting on X: “No idea if all of this is true but it would be good if this were investigated.”
Jetten, 38, would be the youngest prime minister in Dutch history. He said Friday that the win was a “historic result for D66,” and he’s “very proud of that,” Politico reported. “At the same time, I feel a great responsibility to quickly start exploring options this week in order to form a stable and ambitious government.”
Now, he must create a coalition in the parliament then be elected by members. He will need at least three other parties to get the 76 seats needed for a coalition, the BBC said.
According to the BBC, the most obvious parties for coalition would be the conservative-liberal VVD, the left-wing Labour (PvdA)-GreenLeft alliance and the Christian Democrats. Dilan Yesilgöz, leader of the VVD, has said his party won’t work with the left.
Jetten said he wants a broad-based government from the center of Dutch politics and a coalition that represents the voters who backed other parties, BBC reported. The biggest issues in the country now are the housing shortage and asylum and migration.
Outgoing Prime Minister Richard Schoof was hand-picked by Wilders because his coalition partners wouldn’t support a far-right prime minister. Schoof predicted that it would be tough for Jetten to form a coalition. “I reckon I’ll still be prime minister at Christmas — I’d be surprised if it happened [by then],” BBC reported.
