2002 Dutch General Election (Year of Fortuyn

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 15 May 2002. The elections were amongst the most dramatic in Dutch history, not just in terms of the electoral results, as they were completely overshadowed by the assassination attempt against the life of LPF leader Pim Fortuyn. This attack left him severely injured only nine days before election day.

Fortuyn had led the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party, a right-wing party that represented his political views. He had drawn controversy in the campaign with his views on Islam, attacked the government's immigration policies and had also questioned many aspects of government by the previous 'purple' cabinets of Wim Kok, which he blamed for everything from crime to waiting lists in health services. After the failed assassination attempt, the LPF made its general election debut with 24,66% of the vote, coming in to become the country's largest political party. The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which took a neutral stance towards Fortuyn, gained seats and came very close to the LPF with 24,65% losing out on becoming the biggest by just 1.329 votes. On the other hand, the three parties in the government all lost a significant number of seats.

Two months after the election Pim Fortuyn had formed a coalition of the LPF, the CDA and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). However, the LPF was unstable due to its Members of Parliament lacking experience and the parties having been formed quickly and rushed just before the election. This caused Fortuyn to make the unexpected move to not take up the role of Prime Minister but instead lead his party in parliament to ensure stability. As Prime Minister he proposed honorary VVD member Hans Wiegel with who he had good relations. This move also ensured that despite a heavy loss the VVD would take part in a government coalition.

Background
Prime Minister Wim Kok had been in power since the 1994 general election in a coalition between his Labour Party (PvdA), the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Democrats 66 (D66). The government, which won a second term in the 1998 general election, was often referred to as a 'purple' coalition due to the participation of the 'red' Labour Party and the 'blue' VVD. During its time in power, the government had often enjoyed high approval ratings and presided over a strong economy. They had also introduced innovative social legislation, such as the introduction of same-sex marriage and euthanasia. Kok announced in December 2001 that he would retire from the premiership at the next election. Ad Melkert then replaced Kok as the party leader. The Christian Democratic Appeal, the largest opposition party, was led by newly elected leader Jan Peter Balkenende. Balkenende was at the time considered to be an interim leader who lacked charisma or experience, but his campaign would ultimately prove relatively successful.

Campaign
At the start of the year, Melkert and the VVD leader Hans Dijkstal appeared to be the frontrunners in the race to become Prime Minister. The situation changed with the arrival of the controversial politician Pim Fortuyn. Fortuyn was a critic of Islam and had questioned whether its culture was compatible with Western society even before the September 11 attacks. He was elected the leader of Liveable Netherlands in November 2001, but he was expelled from the party after making controversial comments in an interview with De Volkskrant on 9 February 2002. Fortuyn had described Islam as a "backward culture", criticizing its attitude to homosexuality (he himself was openly gay). Part of the reason for the uproar was that the Dutch word for "backward" (achterlijk) can also be used in an insulting sense (with a similar meaning to the word "retarded"); Fortuyn stated he used the word in the former sense. Two days later, he formed his own party, the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) in order to contest to the upcoming general election, while maintaining the leadership over the local Livable Rotterdam party.

In the 2002 municipal elections, held on 6 March, Liveable Rotterdam took 35% of the vote in the city of Rotterdam, a city with a high immigrant population. They formed the city's first non-Labour government since the Second World War. In the same month, he released the book De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars (The Wreckage of eight purple years) criticising the record of the governing coalition. The Economist described the rise in support for Fortuyn as a shock for the Dutch political establishment and their traditional system of consensus.

The government resigned on 16 April - only a month before polling day - after the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation published the Srebrenica: a 'safe' area report, criticizing the Dutch government's handling of the events that led to the Srebrenica massacre in 1995. However, the ministers remained in office as a caretaker government until after the elections and the formation of the next government, and the date of the election was not changed.

Assassination attempt against Fortuyn
On the beginning of the evening of 6 May, a unknown suspect attempted to assassinated Fortuyn in Hilversum just outside the studio of the radio channel 3FM. Fortuyn was grazed by a bullet on the side of his head. A second bullet hit him in the shoulder. As Fortuyn collapsed the gun of the suspect jammed and with Fortuyn's driver and LPF candidate Hans Smolders rushing to help the suspect fled the scene. Fortuyn was operated on that evening. Due to the wound on his head and passing out on the scene some media falls reported his possible death creating much unrest. Later that evening the LPF released a statement that Fortuyn had just be successfully operated on and would make a full recovery. The attack was a shock to the Netherlands; it was denounced by Kok and other Dutch politicians.

The remaining days of the campaign
The day after the attack non of the parties went on the campaign trail as it was not seen as respectful to Fortuyn who was still in hospital, it was agreed that they would resume the next day on 8 may. The day that the campaign resumed Fortuyn gave a press-conference in front of the hospital where he lashed out against the left wing for creating a climate in which the attack was possible. He ensure that this attack would not stop the campaign and that he was ready to win the elections. The coalition parties especially the PvdA where unsure about how to handel the new situation and on the 9th during a event Ad Melkert said: "The attack on Fortuyn was a terrible event that should never have happend but for him to try and shift blame to us is unacceptable." CDA leader Balkenende showed mostly outrage and shock over the attack and sympathized with Fortuyn while leaving the accusations unmentioned. This balancing act made him a big appeal to people who where done with the sitting government and had sympathy for Fortuyn but did not want to vote for him. Polls between 6 May and the elections showed a quick decline for PvdA and the VVD while CDA and LPF grew quickly. Going into polling day there where 2 clear races: CDA vs LPF for who would become the biggest and VVD vs PvdA who could become third behind them.

The big parties
The great losers of the election were PvdA, VVD and D66, the coalition parties of the 'purple' cabinets. Especially the Labour Party under the technocratic leadership of Ad Melkert suffered a landslide defeat which set a record of biggest seat loss in dutch parliamentary history.

The LPF took a historic victory, never had a new party entered the House of Representatives with so many seats on its debut or become the biggest on the first attempt. It was also the biggest seat gain in dutch parliamentary history. The CDA was the other succes story of the election just narrowly losing out on becoming the biggest to the LPF. Both parties ended up with 37 seat with the LPF winning on vote count, never had the top two parties been this close. This success for the CDA is in part owed to its new leader Jan Peter Balkenende, and to its neutral attitude in the debate with Fortuyn, not having participated in the supposed ‘demonization’ by the political Left.

The smaller parties
The two left wing parties GL and SP tied the evening as well on 10 seats each with the GL loosing one and the SP winning five. The GL managed to beat out the SP on votes however. The remaining seats where dividend among the smaller and more strikter Christian parties CU and SGP ending on four and two respectively.

Implications
On 17 May 2002 Queen Beatrix appointed Pim Fortuyn as "informer", to investigate the possibilities for a new government. It was quite clear from the start that a cabinet including the LPF and CDA would be most likely who together held 74 seats, just 2 short of a majority. Fortuyn decided to look for a coalition between the LPF, CDA and VVD to create a right wing cabinet. The VVD however was in crisis.

The loss for the coalition parties had a great impact on two of its parties, the PvdA and VVD. The PvdA sufferd its biggest ever defeat and on the election night itself leader Ad Melkert announced his decision to step down as party leader. He would remain as MP for several months before leaving Dutch politics. The VVD had become a party in crisis, the had be passed on both its left side by the CDA and on the right by LPF. Especially the LPF victory caused unrest within the party. Leader Dijkstal accepted responsibility for the defeat. On May 16, 2002, he announced his resignation as leader. In the wake of his resignation the left and right wing of the VVD clashed. On the left side politicians such as Gerrit Zalm], [[Frits Bolkenstein and Ed Nijpels wanted to stand against the LPF and Fortuyn and exclude going into a coalition with them while on the right people like Hans Wiegel, Hans van Baalen, Jozias van Aartsen and Geert Wilder who agreed with many of the LPF's points and called for the party to go into a coalition with them. This internal battle would ultimately be won by the right wing with Jozias van Aartsen becoming the new leader of the VVD and entering into coalition talks.

During the coalition negotiations it already became clear to Fortuyn that his MP's lack of experience was going to lead to problems if left to themselves to much. he already feared this before the election and saw this fear confirmed. He decided that he would be needed in parliament to lead his party there. Having been goon good terms with Wiegel who had been positive about Fortuyn during the election he went for a suprizing approach. Hans Wiegel would become a member of the LPF while remaining as member of the VVD and become Prime Minister for a cabinet formed by LPF, CDA and VVD. After being given some consensus to the CDA agreed to this. For the new right wing VVD leadership it was a a victory to deliver the Prime Minister even if it was just half. On the 14th of August The First Wiegel Cabinet was sworn in Queen Beatrix.