Dutch elections

The Dutch Christian Democrats held onto power in a parliamentary election but face a battle to form a coalition government after support shifted away from centrist parties to the far-left and far-right. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrats (CDA) won 41 seats in the 150-seat parliament in Wednesday's vote, down from 44 in the 2003 election but far ahead of the opposition Labour on 32, with all votes nearly counted.

Labour saw many of its voters shift to the far-left Socialists (SP) which with 26 seats soared to third place ahead of the liberal VVD, Balkenende's coalition partner. The VVD lost ground to the new party of anti-immigration maverick Geert Wilders.

Balkenende rode to victory on an economic upturn in the past year. But who joins the next coalition will determine how closely he can stick to his business-friendly policies and tough line on immigration, long a major concern of Dutch voters. Queen Beatrix, the head of state, will appoint a mediator within days to talk to the main political leaders and try to start sketching out the shape of a future coalition. But the process of drawing up a new government can take months.

"It will be very difficult to form a government. We have a very polarized country now, we have extreme rightwing and SP winning votes and the center losing," said Jean Tille, assistant politics professor at Amsterdam University. Dutch politics has become much more unstable since the murder of anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn in 2002, with three elections in four years and last year's rejection of the European constitution, opposed by both Wilders and the SP.

Coalition chaos

Neither Balkenende's current alliance with the free-market VVD nor a Labour-led coalition with the SP and environmentalist Green Left has enough seats for a parliamentary majority.
The CDA and Labour could try to form an uneasy right-left partnership despite likely discord over tax, pensions and immigration policy. But even that combination lacks the 76 seats needed for a majority, meaning the CDA and Labour might have to pair up with another party such as the Socialists or the Christian Union.

Balkenende, 50, took credit for a strong economic recovery in the last year that he said was supported by unpopular welfare reforms which he pushed through early in his term. Economic growth is seen at about 3 percent this year and next. Labour leader Wouter Bos, 43, accuses the CDA of pandering to big business and the wealthy and not fighting poverty. He says he would not serve under Balkenende but stay in parliament. His party wants to slow corporate tax cuts and lift spending on childcare and job-creation programs. Labour has also promised an amnesty for some who have waited years for asylum.

Balkenende has implemented tough immigration and integration laws since the meteoric rise of Fortuyn in 2002 and the killing of Islam critic and filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamist militant in 2004. His government has also said it will ban Muslim women wearing face veils in public, a demand made by Wilders.

CNNEurope