Pim Fortuyn List
The Pim Fortuyn List was a political party in the Netherlands that existed from 2002 to 2008 at a national level and was named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was often considered right-wing populist and nationalist by media and political observers due to its policies as well as adhering to its own distinct ideology of Fortuynism according to some commentators which reflected the political ideas of Fortuyn.
The LPF supported tougher measures against immigration and crime, opposition to multiculturalism, greater political reform, a reduction in state bureaucracy and was eurosceptic but differed somewhat from other European right-wing or nationalist parties by taking a liberal stance on certain social issues and sought to describe its ideology as pragmatic and not populistic. It also aimed to present itself as an alternative to the Polder model of Dutch politics and the governing style of the existing mainstream parties.
Pim Fortuyn had initially had planned to contest the 2002 general election as leader of the Livable Netherlands party. He was however dismissed as leader of LN in February 2002 due to controversial remarks he made in a newspaper interview on immigration-related issues, and instead founded LPF a few days later, taking many former LN candidates with him. After gaining support in opinion polls, Fortuyn was assassinated on 6 May 2002, nine days before the election. The party held onto its support, and went on to become the second-largest party in the election.
The LPF formed part of a coalition government with the Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy as part of the first Balkenende cabinet and was granted ministerial posts. However, internal conflicts in the LPF led to the coalition's break-up and fresh elections after a few months. Following the 2003 election, the party was left in opposition. It became clear that the party was not viable without its original leader, and it went into decline until it was finally dissolved in 2008. Despite this, Fortuyn and the LPF have had a significant influence on changing public discourse on immigration, multiculturalism, and political reform, and went on to influence politicians in both older and newer political parties in the Netherlands.
History
Background
The LPF was founded by its namesake, Pim Fortuyn, a former sociology professor who had become known in the Netherlands as an author, press columnist and a media commentator. Fortuyn had announced his intention to run for parliament in a television interview on 20 August 2001. An unusual aspect of this was that it was not yet clear which political party he would be a candidate for. Although he was already in contact with the Livable Netherlands party, he initially also considered running for the Christian Democratic Appeal or creating his own list. He subsequently became a member of the LN in 2001 at the encouragement of its chairman Jan Nagel. On 25 November he was chosen as party leader for the LN. The LN functioned as the combined national extension of various movements that existed as localist alternatives to the main parties and had contested municipal elections but had never contested in national elections before. Fortuyn concluded his acceptance speech by saying the words that would become his slogan; "At your service!" Almost immediately after Fortuyn became leader, LN went from 2% in opinion polls to about 17%.In January 2002, it was announced that Fortuyn also would head the Livable Rotterdam list for the March 2002 local elections at the request of its founder Ronald Sorensen. At the time, Livable Rotterdam was considered the local counterpart to LN. The official 2002 election study found that immigration and integration problems were the second most important issue for voters after issues concerning the health care system. Helped by the many speeches and interviews given by Fortuyn, immigration issues became the major topic of the national political agenda, thereby forcing other parties to react.
Until February, Liveable Netherlands had received disproportionate and generally sympathetic coverage in the media. The situation took a dramatic turn on 9 February, when Fortuyn was interviewed in de Volkskrant, one of the leading national newspapers. Against the strong advice of his campaign team, he made several controversial statements; including one that said Islam was "a backward culture", that no more asylum seekers would be allowed into the country, and, if necessary, the possible repeal of anti-racism clauses in the Dutch Constitution to protect freedom of speech. Fortuyn maintained that if he came to power, he would pardon asylum seekers and illegal immigrants who had been in the Netherlands for a certain period but if legally possible he would close the borders to Muslim immigrants. Fortuyn was summoned to an emergency meeting by the LN party board and asked to retract his statements, but after refusing he was dismissed as party leader the next day. In a television interview, Fortuyn said that the split was irreparable, although he would have preferred to remain in the party.
Establishment
Fortuyn founded Pim Fortuyn List on 14 February taking several former LN members and candidates with him. He began assembling candidates to stand in the upcoming general election. Fortuyn secured financial backing from several individuals involved in the property development sector and was allocated an office and campaign headquarters in downtown Rotterdam. Within a short time, Fortuyn was able to secure thirty candidates for the election. Mat Herben was appointed as LPF group leader. Second on the party's list was João Varela, originally from Cape Verde whom Fortuyn proposed as immigration minister should he become prime minister. Fortuyn also recruited Jim Janssen van Raaij a former member of the European Parliament for the CDA and one of few on the list with professional political experience. Others included former editor of Elsevier Ferry Hoogendijk, ex-drafts champion Harm Wiersma, civil servant Joost Eerdmans, Surinamese broadcaster Philomena Bijlhout, counter-terrorism officer André Peperkoorn, spokesman for farmers Wien van den Brink, spokeswoman for the Central Bureau of Food Trade Winny de Jong and Dutch-Moroccan businesswoman Fieroes Zeroual. The party's candidates were unveiled by Fortuyn at a press conference in March 2002.Opinion polls soon showed that he took most of LN's supporters with him, leaving LN with its original 2%, while Fortuyn soared to 17%. The local LR—which held on to Fortuyn as its leader—was hugely successful in the March 2002 local elections, as it won more than one third of the vote and became Rotterdam's strongest party, displacing the Labour Party who had governed Rotterdam since World War Two. Fortuyn was subsequently elected to Rotterdam's municipal council.
In the run-up to the 2002 general election, Fortuyn appeared in numerous television and radio interviews to generate publicity, and was featured in the televised leadership debates representing his new party. He was often attacked or derided as an extremist figure by other party leaders, and both Dutch and foreign media outlets compared Fortuyn to other European far-right party leaders. Fortuyn disputed the comparisons and stated that the press and other party leaders were distorting or mislabeling him and his ideas. However, polling showed rapid and growing support for the LPF, with some polls indicating that the LPF would emerge as the largest party and make Fortuyn a candidate for prime minister. Fortuyn himself maintained that he would not accept a cabinet position headed by another party leader and aimed to take the role of prime minister himself.
Fortuyn assassination
It was reported in February 2002 that Fortuyn did not dare to appear in public owing to death threats. In March, he was attacked by pie-throwing activists at the presentation of his new book De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars. Despite this, the authorities did not provide protection for Fortuyn, nor did he request protection. In various interviews, including with the BBC and Jensen!, Fortuyn expressed a concern that he would be killed or injured during the election campaign, and argued that if such an event were to happen, the media and Dutch political establishment would be to blame through creating a hostile atmosphere against him.On 6 May, Fortuyn was assassinated outside a radio studio in Hilversum. This was the first political murder in the Netherlands for centuries. Some claimed that by demonising Fortuyn, the political left and the media had created a climate of opinion that had made the assassination possible. Campaigning immediately stopped, and although some suggested postponing the elections, the campaign resumed after his funeral four days later. His funeral was broadcast live on television and, according to Cas Mudde, lead "to scenes of mass hysteria not seen since the Netherlands national football team won the European Championship in 1988." The murder of Fortuyn, together with that of Theo van Gogh two years later, would result in a polarisation in the political debate in the Netherlands, and subsequently changes in immigration-related policies and public discourse.
First Balkenende cabinet (2002–2003)
The LPF decided to maintain Fortuyn's posthumous candidacy, and delayed naming a new leader until after the election. The 2002 general election proved a great success for the LPF, yielding 17% of the votes and 26 seats in the House of Representatives—by far a record number of seats in the Netherlands for a new party—to become the second largest party. LN also made it into Parliament, with two seats. The Labour Party and People's Party for Freedom and Democracy saw their largest-ever losses, while the Christian Democratic Appeal won large gains – later attributed in part to the fact that CDA leader Jan Peter Balkenende had remained neutral and not joined in attacking Fortuyn with other party leaders during debates. Balkenende had earlier announced that his party would follow a tougher line towards asylum seekers and tighten some of the Netherlands's immigration policies, and he later agreed with much of Fortuyn's criticism of the purple coalition and Holland's multicultural society. Some commentators claimed that the CDA was able to draw in voters who otherwise would have supported the LPF or that the CDA was seen as a stabilizing force after a tense election. As leader of the strongest party, Balkenende became the leading candidate for prime minister.Following the election, journalist and former civil servant Mat Herben was appointed Fortuyn's successor as LPF party leader in May 2002 while newly elected LPF representatives João Varela and Ferry Hoogendijk became the party's vice-chairmen. Businessman and personal friend of Fortuyn was appointed chairman by the LPF parliamentary faction and faced the difficult task of shaping the party organization without Fortuyn.
Together with the CDA and the VVD, the LPF formed part of the governing coalition, and supplied several members for the Balkenende cabinet. The party was granted four of fourteen cabinet seats, for immigration, economics, environment, health and sports, and five state secretaries. LPF member Eduard Bomhoff was appointed deputy prime minister. The following day after the cabinet's formation, LPF State Secretary for Social Affairs and Work Opportunity Philomena Bijlhout resigned after it was reported that she had been a member of a Surinamese militia group. She was replaced by fellow LPF MP Khee Liang Phoa.
Without its original leader and lack of a clearly defined organisational structure and political experience among its members, the LPF also succumbed to highly public internal squabbles. MPs within the LPF resigned to sit as independents due to the infighting and the intense media storm following Fortuyn's death or unsuccessfully tried founding splinter parties of their own to contest in the next election. In August 2002, Herben resigned as leader due to the unrest and was briefly replaced by Harry Wijnschenk. However, arguments within the party continued after Wijnschenk was accused of dictatorial behaviour by other faction members which eventually led to the departure of LPF MPs Winny de Jong and Cor Eberhard. Wijnschenk was subsequently ousted from his position and replaced by Herben again, but by October 2002, the break-up of the government coalition was ultimately triggered by the bickering of LPF Ministers Eduard Bomhoff and Herman Heinsbroek who did not get along on a personal level. Although the VVD had suggested that the LPF could replace Bomhoff and Heinsbroek in the cabinet, Bomhoff warned that the other parties would use the opportunity to call a new election. Ultimately, the cabinet fell and a fresh election was called.