Following the elections of 22 January, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats once again hold the majority in the Dutch Parliament. The relative majority of seats, 44 out of 150, goes to the Christian Democrat and outgoing premier Jan Peter Balkenende, thus blocking the strong recovery of the Social Democrats of Wouter Bos, which have jumped from 23 to 42 seats. The formation of a grand centre-left coalition to guarantee Holland’s next government thus seems ever more probable. Another shock result of the poll was the collapse of the LPM, the List of the populist Pim Fortuyn assassinated by a fanatical ecologist a few days before the vote in 2002; it tumbled from 26 to 8 seats. This election was closely followed by the Dutch Episcopal Conference, even though as its spokesman Peter Kohnen has pointed out “by tradition it does not release any kind of comment on the results”, though it does, as Kohnen recalls, “send a letter to the person called to form the new government, in which the themes close to the Church’s heart are recalled, such as the defence of life, the reinforcement of the family and the repudiation of euthanasia”. It will be the Queen of the Netherlands, Beatrice, who will choose the person to form the new government. Normally the choice falls on the leader of the largest party, so in this case if ought to go to the Christian Democrat Jan Peter Balkenende.
