Polls peg D66 leader as next PM

Voters think D66 leader Alexander Pechtold is most suitable to follow up current Prime Minister Mark Rutte a new study shows. Pechtold scored highest out of the six major party leaders with a score of 5.6, wrote market research firm Ipsos on Thursday. CDA-leader Sybrand Buma and SP-leader Emile Roemer both scored 4.8, chairman Halbe Zijlstra scored 4.3 and PvdA-leader Diederik Samsom scored 3.8. PVV-leader Geert Wilders scored the lowest with a poor 2.9 score. Pechtold did not just score well amongst D66 supporters. His abilities were also favourably reviewed by VVD and PvdA supporters, the survey suggests. "I believe that I’m ready to lead the country and become the next Prime Minister if I would get elected," Pechtold said in an interview with newspaper NRC.