Accusations fly in election campaign

Election time means tensions can run high, as political parties compete to best each other on the campaign trail.  Parties that were allies of each other, working together in Parliament, are now at each others' throats. On Thursday, this happened between PvdA and D66. The PvdA has bothered the D66 often over the last few weeks. The D66 is the biggest pursuer of the social democrats in cities such as Amsterdam and Utrecht. Diederik Samsom, party leader for PvdA, has already openly criticized D66 plans for social housing schemes in the big cities. Samsom's right hand man in Parliament, faction president Martijn van Dam, put in his two cents as well on Thursday. He stated that the D66 under leadership of Alexander Pechtold has become "much more liberal and rightist."

According to him, D66 is more rightist on many points than the VVD. Not just about housing, but also on poverty and unemployment. VVD and D66 are neck and neck for the most rightist leadership, Van Dam thinks. D66 leader Alexander Pechtold did not react on Thursday, leaving it instead to his campaign leader, MP Kees Verhoeven who said that "the panic is apparently big at the PvdA now that its position of power in cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Groningen is under pressure." Verhoeven also said "for the last elections, the PvdA came down on the VVD every day to subsequently form a cabinet with the same VVD in record time. "It seems wise to me, then, for Samsom and his people to make the impression that the D66 is an awful party which the PvdA can't work with. We all know that the PvdA will turn the other cheek after the elections." Van Dam said on Tuesday that a leftist party such as the SP stands closer to his PvdA than rightist parties like D66, CDA and VVD. But after the elections, it will become clear what coalitions are possible. He expects that the PvdA will win in the ten biggest cities "once it's clear what is at stake: do we want a city for everyone, or a divided city?"