Dutch To Vote In Seismic Election Thriller

The Hague, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Nov, 2023) Dutch voters head to the polls next week for a knife-edge election that will transform the country's political landscape, with surveys showing the race is too close to call.

After Mark Rutte's record 13 years at the helm, the Dutch appear poised to elect either their first woman PM or a crusading anti-corruption campaigner who only formed a party a few months ago.

"Anyone who says they know who is going to win this election is lying through their teeth," political analyst Julia Wouters told AFP.

What does seem sure however is that a new face will be leading the Netherlands, the EU's fifth-largest economy that punches above its weight in Europe and the world stage.

Replacing Rutte as head of the centre-right VVD party is Dilan Yesilgoz, a 46-year-old born in Turkey who arrived in the Netherlands as a young asylum seeker and who now wants to drive down immigration.

"I came as an eight-year-old refugee to this country and I know what it means to seek freedom and to seek safety and security," Yesilgoz told AFP at a recent rally.

She said the influx of asylum seekers, plus international workers and students, was now "way too high".

"We need to lower that number in order to also have a safe space for true refugees," she added.

A media-savvy campaigner who keeps her Instagram followers entertained with pictures of her dogs, Yesilgoz is a constant presence on Dutch political talk shows.

But critics say she has struggled to articulate clear policies and explain how she would govern differently from the scandal-hit Rutte.

"The main challenge... is the perception that the party's campaign is devoid of any substance," Sarah de Lange, professor of politics at the University of Amsterdam, told AFP.

"Yesilgoz emphasises that they will do things differently, without going into detail what the key measures will be."