Gov't will look for left-wing help in Senate, Green party leader thinks

GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver believes that the government will opt for cooperation with the left-wing opposition in the new Senate. "The cabinet must choose: is it about the right or about the left? I assume it will opt for the Paris climate goals. That means that cooperation on the right is not an option", Klaver said, ANP reports.

Klaver can't imagine that coalition parties D66 and ChristenUnie will be "eager" to collaborate with nationalist party FvD, the big winner of the Provincial State elections going from 0 to 12 seats in the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate. GroenLinks also had a big victory, going from four to nine seats.

D66 leader Rob Jetten thinks that FvD excluded itself from cooperation with the cabinet in the Eerste Kamer, he said during a D66 meeting in parliament on Thursday. "There is of course a party that is against climate policy, who wants to close borders, wants ministers to resign and the Netherlands to leave the European union", he said, according to the news wire. "So that party already excluded itself from cooperation with the coalition. But we are going to see if they will also turn that huge number of seats into responsibility."

On Wednesday the Netherlands voted for the members of the Provincial States, who in turn will determine the composition of the Eerste Kamer in May. The new Senators will take position on June 11th. The Rutte III coalition of VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie no longer has a majority in the Eerste Kamer, which means that it will need help from the opposition to get any of their plans through the Senate.

According to FvD leader Thierry Baudet, his party's big win can be attributed to the fact that "people want change", he said when the results were announced. "I think that people here want a party that defends the Netherlands and Dutch interests and does not go along with all that climate nonsense." He also said that the voter has punished the government for its "arrogance and stupidity".

According to political commentator Frits Wester, the FvD win can largely be attributed to dissatisfied voters. "For one of the richest countries in the world, people are very dissatisfied", he said to RTL Nieuws. Voters are now opting for a party that is not afraid to interfere with politics. The FvD mainly stole seats from the PVV, VVD and SP, according to Wester.