Yesterday, we (Dutch) had a nailbiting election for the provincial legislatures, which appoint our upper-chamber (or senate) [I'll spare you the details, but they make the US electoral college seem straightforward]. It (the Dutch senate) can slow down government bills and acts as the chamber of reflection in Dutch politics.
Anyway, last year's parliamentary election produced a center-right minority government explicitly supported by the xenophic movement headed by Geert Wilders (which garned 15% of the vote). In return for his parliamentary support, Wilders (who did not join the government) demanded a tightening of anti-Islamic and anti-immigration laws, while preventing much needed reform in social security, housing, and education. (As I have remarked before: the welfare state gets defended along color-lines around here.) That outcome was a consequence, in part, of the collapse of the once-centrist Christian Democrats--the normal, status quo oriented power brokers during last sixty years. While the outcome was shocking, one could at least claim that the voters could not have foreseen that they would end up with a xenophobic government. Now that all of yesterday's votes are counted it looks as if the government will have just enough seats to be able to secure any legislation it wishes (simply by buying off various small parties -- a Conservative Christian one on abortion; a senior citizen party on pensions, etc -- on their pet-projects). That is to say, the Dutch voters ratified their earlier decision, and now have squarely embraced xenophobia. Our prime-minister, Mark Rutte, spoke about "giving the Netherlands back to the Netherlanders" last night. Nobody can doubt what that means around here.
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