(AP) The center-right lawmaker whose new party is riding so high in polls ahead of next week’s Dutch election that he could become a kingmaker in coalition talks said Thursday that he has fundamental differences with anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, whose party also is polling strongly.
With next Wednesday’s vote shaping up as a neck-and-neck race, party leaders are already looking toward what could be protracted negotiations to form the next ruling coalition. The Dutch electoral system and the sheer number of parties involved — 26 at this election — virtually guarantee the need for coalition governments.
Pieter Omtzigt, who only formed his New Social Contract party over the summer, is very narrowly behind the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte in the polls. Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) is in fourth place.
