D66 leader Alexander Pechtold called a statement made by Limburg D66 State member Hans van Wageningen about PVV leader Geert Wilders "unwise". In an opinion piece posted on Twitter and in 1Limburg, Van Wageningen said that Wilders hopes for a terrorist attack in the Netherlands. "He hopes for an attack just before the election and that he'll be sitting plush in The Hague when the smoke clears", he said.
parliamentary elections
Mar 2 '17 09:20
PVV leader Geert Wilders is resuming his party's public campaign for the upcoming parliamentary elections. "We are going into the country", he said on Wednesday, RTL Nieuws reports.
Mar 1 '17 08:32
An elite team of soldiers was deployed to help protect PVV leader Geert Wilders, the Telegraaf reported on Wednesday based on its own sources. According to the newspaper, members of the Defense team Special Security Missions Brigade (BSB) have been guarding the PVV leader for a few days already.
The Ministry of Security and Justice would not confirm these reports to the newspaper. The Koninklijke Marechaussee, a policing force that forms part of the Dutch military, would also not comment on the matter. The BSB falls under the Koninklijke Marechaussee.
Feb 28 '17 12:30
Prime Minister and VVD leader Mark Rutte is very positive about the upcoming parliamentary elections. He thinks that his VVD will come out of the elections with the same number of parliamentary seats as in the 2012 elections - 41 seats. He is also up for working with green party GroenLinks. "We eventually have to work towards a greener society", he said, according to newspaper AD.
Rutte is currently campaigning in the east of the country. He participated in a debate series organized by newspaper Tubantia and the University of Twente. And he gave an interview to the Gelderlander.
Feb 28 '17 09:05
GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver wants the next cabinet to consist of an equal number men and women, he said at a meeting in Leiden on Monday. He feels it is time for the glass ceiling to be broken, AD reports.
According to Klaver, making sure that half of the new cabinet is women will not only do justice to women's talent, but also send "a signal to society that we do not accept exclusion and deprivation. Therefore, half of the ministers on the next government should be women", he said, according to the newspaper.
Feb 27 '17 07:53
GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver and SP leader Emile Roemer could not agree on whether the VVD should or should not be excluded from forming a new government after the parliamentary elections on March 15th. During the first televised debate for the upcoming elections, Roemer called on Klaver to clearly state whether GroenLinks and the VVD would form a coalition. Klaver said he can not rule out that possibility, AD reports.
Feb 24 '17 10:15
Around 11:00 p.m. on Thursday the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, finished its last debate before the parliamentary election on March 15th. For many parliamentarians who are not on their party's new list of candidates, this was their last time speaking in the Kamer. The next debate will be held with new parliamentarians, the Telegraaf reports.
Feb 24 '17 08:07
Faris K., the police officer in the Safety and Security Service suspected of leaking information to a criminal gang, was previously also suspected of integrity violations, newspaper AD reports. Faris K. was investigated for leaking police information while he worked at the Utrecht police, colleagues of the suspected cop told the newspaper. The outcome of that investigation is unclear.
Feb 23 '17 15:55
Statements by DENK leader Tunahan Kuzu suggesting that elderly people with an immigration background are discriminated against in the Dutch healthcare system, led to disbelief and outrage among medical practitioners in the Netherlands. "This clearly fits into the election campaign", Rene Heman, chairman of Dutch doctors federation KNMG, said to newspaper AD.
Feb 23 '17 12:25
Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of the 12.9 million Dutch who are eligible to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections are 65 years old or older, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Thursday.
During the previous parliamentary elections 22 percent of voters were over the age of 65. According to the statistics office, the increase can be attributed to the post-war baby boom, that lasted until 1955. In the 2012 elections only the baby boomers born in 1946 and 1947 were 65 years or older. In this election everyone born up until 1952 is 65 years and older.
Feb 22 '17 14:40
Geert Wilders and his PVV is continuing to steadily lose support in the polls. In the Peilingwijzer published on Wednesday the PVV and the VVD are about equally large The PVV stands between 24 and 28 parliamentary seats, the VVD between 23 and 27.
Last week the PVV stood at between 25 and 29 seats. Since December the party lost six seats in the polls. The VVD has been on basically the same position for weeks.
Feb 22 '17 09:37
Even though Dutch people like to grumble when things do not go their way, the population is generally pretty satisfied about the country, according to a study I&O Research did on behalf of newspaper AD. The survey among more than 6 thousand Dutch found that while there are concerns about contradictions in society, most are positive about the Netherlands' future, AD reports.
Feb 16 '17 13:35
Voters will have quite a selection to choose from in the parliamentary elections next month when it comes to picking a political party based on the financial and economic choices, according to calculations by Dutch central planning office CPB. A major difference between this and last election is that the parties are focused on spending money now that the economy is recovering, instead of the 2012 election's focus on cutbacks in the aftermath of the financial crisis, NU.nl reports.
Feb 16 '17 09:54
The VVD wants more stringent integration requirements in the Netherlands including a total ban on face covering clothing, like burkas and balaclavas, in public. Wearing face covering clothing makes it more difficult for you to openly meet and greet each other, VVD parliamentarian Malik Azmani emphasizes in a broad integration agenda the ruling party is presenting on Thursday, Het Parool reports.
Feb 15 '17 12:50
Broadcaster RTL decided to go through with the "Premier debate" later this month despite the VVD and PVV refusing their invitations. RTL initially decided to cancel the election debate after Geert Wilders and Mark Rutte said they wouldn't participate. But a massive outcry from viewers and other political parties made them change their mind.
Feb 15 '17 09:55
A total of 12.9 million Dutch can vote in the parliamentary elections on March 15th, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Wednesday. That's 300 thousand more than in the previous parliamentary elections in 2012.
Basically everyone with Dutch nationality aged 18 years and older is allowed to vote in the parliamentary elections. In 2016 only 56 persons were denied the ability to vote due to the severity of a crime they committed, according to the statistics office.
Feb 15 '17 08:46
The newest information on Peilingwijzer - a platform that brings the information of various polls together - has the PVV only barely larger than the VVD. Geert Wilders' PVV currently stands at between 25 and 29 seats, only two seats more that Mark Rutte's VVD - between 23 and 27 seats. Political scientist Tom Louwerse, creator of Peilingwijzer, told NOS that this is not due to the VVD gaining support, but rather the PVV losing ground.
The PVV lost 5 seats since December. "You can now see that decline to a greater or lesser extent at all polling agencies", Louwerse said to NOS.
Feb 14 '17 11:35
Almost half of Dutch political parties' campaigns for the parliamentary elections contain proposals that are diametrically opposed to the current constitution or rule of law, according to a study by a committee of professors. There were proposals that violate fundamental human rights, access to an independent court and legal security, among other things, ANP reports.
Feb 13 '17 09:24
Both the PvdA and D66 promise to invest more money into education in their respective election campaigns. The PvdA set 5 billion euros aside for education and promises substantial salary increases for teachers and a lighter workload. The D66 assigned 4.5 billion euros to education and wants more teachers and smaller classes.
Feb 9 '17 15:30
Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk can not guarantee that no fraud was committed in the collection of signatures in support of the Ukraine referendum, he said in response to questions from law firm Bureau Brandeis on the matter. The Electoral Council took a sample and verified the authenticity of the address with the name of the signee, but it can not be said with certainty that the signatures were submitted by different individuals, the Minster said according to the Volkskrant.
Feb 8 '17 17:35
PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher wants to invest an additional 100 million euros a year into helping people who have a hard time getting by, he said to the Leeuwarder Courant. He also wants to increase welfare benefits and child support.
The current Deputy Prime Minister praised the so-called Leeuwarden child package, which helps kids from less fortunate families join a sports club, take music lessons or go on a field trip. He wants to introduce a similar system nationwide.
Feb 8 '17 15:50
Dutch voters have little confidence in the country's current healthcare system, which was implemented 11 years ago. 57 percent of voters want the government to take back control of healthcare instead of insurers, according to a study Ipsos did for Dutch newspaper Trouw.
Feb 8 '17 07:58
The Photoshopped image PVV leader Geert Wilders tweeted of D66 leader Alexander Pechtold is "totally tasteless", Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) said on television program Jinek.
Feb 7 '17 12:40
With the parliamentary elections coming up in the Netherlands on March 15th, various voting guides are launching to help voters decide on which party would best represent their interests. The two big guides, Kieskompas and Stemwijzer, both created a variant specifically aimed at young people who aren't very involved in politics or who are voting for the first time. There is also a guide aimed only at young people called Jongerenkieswijzer, NOS reports.
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