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Small fry 11/3

The election campaign remains curiously devoid of truly game-changing, or even very important, occurrences. It seems people are tired and want it to end, even if that means returning the most divided parliament in Dutch history.

Still, there’s some small fry.

• The Turkish minister soap continues. Yesterday SP leader Roemer and defence minister Hennis (VVD) calmly discussed the excuses they could use to keep Turkish foreign minister Çavuşoğlu away during the election period, showing that here all parties are in absolute agreement.
  Today it turns out that there is a Turkish law against politicians campaigning abroad. That puts a different perspective on things.
  Obviously, Çavuşoğlu wouldn’t campaign here and in Germany; instead he’d merely visit informational meeting. Right, that clears it up. Meanwhile he also threatened with “tough sanctions,” though it is unclear exactly what he means.
  Update: Çavuşoğlu's plane has been refused permission to land.
• PvdA leader Asscher wrote an open letter to the voter to argue that the outgoing Rutte II government, in which he was vice-prime minister, was a success. How this squares with the PvdA assertion that the country needs a new course remains unclear. The PvdA problem in a nutshell.
• Former prime minister Van Agt (CDA; 1977-1982) announced he won’t be voting CDA this time because of the CDa’s Israel policy. Van Agt is an avid defender of the rights of Palestinians, but the Dutch right wing supports Israel. He did not announce which party he will be voting for.
• The number 24 of the GL list turns out to be a director of a company that appears in the Panama Papers. She likely wouldn’t have been elected anyway — it’s unlikely GL will win 24 seats. Nonetheless should could potentially end up in parliament later, if several higher-placed politicians would move on to government and the open seats would have to be filled in.
  Officially she’s still on the list (it’s too late to change it now) but she promised she will not claim her seat.
• Rutte warns that a victory for Wilders would mean chaos. He, correctly, points out that even though the polls now show Wilders firmly in second place, the polls have made mistakes before, pointing at Brexit and Trump. Translation: the VVD is still angling for PVV voters who actually want a say in government.
• If Wilders wins the elections he gets the first right to form a government. In recent days both VVD leader Rutte and CDA leader Buma reiterated that they will not form a government with him. Therefore, they imply, a vote on Wilders is a wasted vote.
  If a three- or four-party coalition can be formed without Wilders it’s likely that they keep their word. If the situation becomes much more complicated than that, though, they might reconsider.

<— Update: Turkish minister | The Turkish-Dutch diplomatic row —>

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