Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) ...

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing pop ...

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

Wim Kok Willem "Wim" Kok (; 29 September 1938 – 20 October 2018) was a Dutch politician and trade union leader who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002.Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied ...

first cabinet First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party i ...

Wim Kok Willem "Wim" Kok (; 29 September 1938 – 20 October 2018) was a Dutch politician and trade union leader who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002.1994 general election in a coalition between his Labour Party (PvdA), the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party i ...

(VVD) and

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Demo ...

(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 Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

and

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

. Kok announced in December 2001 that he would retire from the premiership at the next election.

Ad Melkert Adrianus Petrus Wilhelmus "Ad" Melkert (; born 12 February 1956) is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party (PvdA) who has served as a Council of State (Netherlands), Member of the Council of State since 20 ...

then replaced Kok as the party leader. The

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

, the largest opposition party, was led by newly elected leader

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied ...

. 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 Henri Frans "Hans" Dijkstal (28 February 1943 – 9 May 2010) was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and financial adviser. Early life, education, military service and early career Dijkstal was born in Port ...

appeared to be the frontrunners in the race to become Prime Minister. The situation changed with the arrival of the controversial politician

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) ...

. Fortuyn was a critic of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

and had questioned whether its culture was compatible with Western society even before the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. 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 ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized c ...

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 The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing pop ...

(LPF) in order to contest to the upcoming general election, while maintaining the leadership over the local

Livable Rotterdam Livable Rotterdam ( nl, Leefbaar Rotterdam) is a local political party in the municipality of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which was founded by Ronald Sørensen in 2001. Livable Rotterdam won the council elections of March 2002 due to the chari ...

party. In the 2002 municipal elections, held on 6 March, Liveable Rotterdam took 35% of the vote in the city of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

, 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 ''De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars'' (, English: ') is a political non-fiction book released by the Dutch political commentator and aspiring lawmaker Pim Fortuyn in 2002, two months prior to his assassination. In the book, Fortuyn sharply critici ...

(''The Wreckage of eight purple years'') criticising the record of the governing coalition. ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'' 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 The NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies ( Dutch: ''NIOD Instituut voor Oorlogs-, Holocaust- en Genocidestudies'') is an organisation An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an ...

published the '' Srebrenica: a 'safe' area'' report, criticizing the Dutch government's handling of the events that led to the

Srebrenica massacre The Srebrenica massacre ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Masakr u Srebrenici, Масакр у Сребреници), also known as the Srebrenica genocide ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Genocid u Srebrenici, Геноцид у Сребрен ...

in 1995. However, the ministers remained in office as a

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

until after the elections and the formation of the next government, and the date of the election was not changed. On 6 May, Fortuyn was assassinated in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilver ...

by

Volkert van der Graaf Volkert van der Graaf (born 9 July 1969) is a Dutch convicted murderer who assassinated politician Pim Fortuyn, the leader of the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party, on 6 May 2002. Van der Graaf shot Fortuyn outside a radio studio in Hilversum shortly ...

. Months later, Van der Graaf stated his motivation was his belief that Fortuyn was exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak members of society" in seeking political power.Fortuyn killed 'to protect Muslims'

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

, 28 March 2003: an der Graafsaid his goal was to stop Fortuyn exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak parts of society to score points" to try to gain political power. The murder was a shock to the Netherlands; it was denounced by Kok and other Dutch politicians and other national leaders. It was the country's first political assassination in modern times.Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn assassinated
/ref>

Opinion polls

Result

The great losers of the election were Labour Party,

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party i ...

and

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Demo ...

, the

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

of the 'purple' cabinets. Especially the Labour Party under the technocratic leadership of

Ad Melkert Adrianus Petrus Wilhelmus "Ad" Melkert (; born 12 February 1956) is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party (PvdA) who has served as a Council of State (Netherlands), Member of the Council of State since 20 ...

suffered a landslide defeat. The

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

was the surprising winner of the election, gaining 14 seats (from 29 to 43) and becoming the largest party in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. This success is in part owed to its new leader

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied ...

, who went on to become

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

, and to its neutral attitude in the debate with Fortuyn, not having participated in the supposed ‘demonization’ by the political

Left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album '' Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * ...

. Fortuyn's former party

Livable Netherlands Livable Netherlands ( nl, Leefbaar Nederland, LN) was a Dutch political party. Pim Fortuyn began his political career in the party. History Historically there have always been parties in States Provincial (provincial legislatures) and munici ...

also contested the election. While they had been overshadowed by Fortuyn, they also entered the House of Representatives, winning 2 seats. The 15 May 2002 election was the beginning of a year of political

chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional elements * Chaos (''Kinnikuman'') * Chaos (''Sailor Moon'') * Chaos (''Sesame Park'') * Chaos (''Warhammer'') * Chaos, in ''Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy'' * Cha ...

in the Netherlands following the LPF leader's assassination on 6 May the same year. The power vacuum resulted in violent internal conflicts in LPF, which eventually led to the fall of the

first Balkenende cabinet The first Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Netherlands government from 22 July 2002 until 27 May 2003. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the nationalistic Pim Fortuyn List ...

(CDA-LPF-VVD), which governed from 22 July 2002 to 16 October 2002. The CDA once again became a coalition party after eight years in opposition (1994–2002) in a government which, however, became the shortest-ruling Dutch cabinet since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, lasting less than five months.

Background

Campaign

Opinion polls

Result

By province

References

Further reading