Pim Fortuyn List
Pim Fortuyn List Lijst Pim Fortuyn | |
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The Pim Fortuyn List (Dutch: Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a right-wing populist[6][7] political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered nationalist[3] as well as adhering to its own distinct ideology of Fortuynism according to some commentators.[8][9][1]
The LPF supported tougher measures against immigration and crime, opposition to
Pim Fortuyn had initially had planned to contest the 2002 general election as leader of the Livable Netherlands (LN) party. He was however dismissed as leader of LN in February 2002 due to controversial remarks he made in a newspaper interview on immigration-related issues, and instead founded LPF a few days later, taking many former LN candidates with him. After gaining support in opinion polls, Fortuyn was assassinated on 6 May 2002, nine days before the election. The party held onto its support, and went on to become the second-largest party in the election.
The LPF formed part of a coalition government with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) as part of the first Balkenende cabinet and was granted ministerial posts. However, internal conflicts in the LPF led to the coalition's break-up and fresh elections after a few months. Following the 2003 election, the party was left in opposition. It became clear that the party was not viable without its original leader, and it went into decline until it was finally dissolved in 2008. Both Fortuyn and the LPF have had a significant influence on changing Dutch public discourse on immigration, multiculturalism, and political reform, and went on to influence politicians in both the mainstream and newer political parties.
History
Background
The LPF was founded by its namesake, Pim Fortuyn, a former sociology professor who had become known in the Netherlands as an author, press columnist and a media commentator. Fortuyn announced his intention to run for parliament in a television interview on 20 August 2001. An unusual aspect of this was that it was not yet clear which political party he would be a candidate for. Although he was already in contact with the
In January 2002, it was announced that Fortuyn also would head the Livable Rotterdam (LR) list for the March 2002 local elections. The official 2002 election study found that immigration and integration problems were the second most important issue for voters after issues concerning the health care system. Helped by the many speeches and interviews given by Fortuyn, immigration issues became the major topic of the national political agenda, thereby forcing other parties to react.[15]
Until February, Liveable Netherlands had received disproportionate and generally sympathetic coverage in the media. The situation took a dramatic turn on 9 February, when Fortuyn was interviewed in
Establishment
Fortuyn founded Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) on 11 February and began assembling candidates to stand in the upcoming general election.
Opinion polls soon showed that he took most of LN's supporters with him, leaving LN with its original 2%, while Fortuyn soared to 17%.[14][15] The local LR—which held on to Fortuyn as its leader—was hugely successful in the March 2002 local elections, as it won more than one third of the vote and became Rotterdam's strongest party, displacing the Labour Party who had governed Rotterdam since World War Two.[19]
In the run-up to the 2002 general election, Fortuyn appeared in numerous television and radio interviews to generate publicity, and was featured in the televised leadership debates representing his new party. He was often attacked or derided as an extremist figure by other party leaders (in particular Labour leader Ad Melkert, former Prime Minister Wim Kok and GroenLinks's Paul Rosenmöller), and both Dutch and foreign media outlets compared Fortuyn to other European far-right party leaders. Fortuyn disputed the comparisons and stated that the press and other party leaders were distorting or mislabeling him and his ideas. However, polling showed rapid and growing support for the LPF, with some polls indicating that the LPF would emerge as the largest party and make Fortuyn a candidate for Prime Minister. Fortuyn himself maintained that he would not accept a cabinet position headed by another party leader and aimed to take the role of Prime Minister himself.[20]
Fortuyn assassination
It was reported in February 2002 that Fortuyn did not dare to appear in public owing to death threats. In March, he was attacked by pie-throwing activists at the presentation of his new book De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars (which became the bestselling book by a Dutch author in the Netherlands in 2002).[21] Despite this, the authorities did not provide protection for Fortuyn, nor did he request protection. In various interviews, including with the BBC and Jensen!, Fortuyn expressed a concern that he would be killed or injured during the election campaign, and argued that if such an event were to happen, the media and Dutch political establishment would be to blame through creating a hostile atmosphere against him.[22]
On 6 May, Fortuyn was assassinated outside a radio studio in
First Balkenende cabinet (2002–2003)
The LPF decided to maintain Fortuyn's posthumous candidacy, and delayed naming a new leader until after the election.
Following the election, journalist and former civil servant
Without its original leader and lack of a clearly defined organisational structure and political experience among its members, the LPF also succumbed to highly public internal squabbles. MPs within the LPF resigned to sit as independents due to the infighting and the intense media storm following Fortuyn's death or unsuccessfully tried founding splinter parties of their own to contest in the next election. In August 2002, Herben resigned as leader and was briefly replaced by Harry Wijnschenk. Wijnschenk was subsequently ousted from his position and replaced by Herben again, but by October 2002, the break-up of the government coalition was ultimately triggered by the bickering of LPF Ministers Eduard Bomhoff and Herman Heinsbroek.[30]
Opposition and disintegration (2003–2006)
In the January 2003 general election, the LPF shrank to 5.7% support and gained eight seats while Balkenende and the CDA retained a majority.[30] Following the election the LPF was exchanged for the Democrats 66 in the government coalition. The LPF found it hard to maintain support in parliamentary opposition as besides Joost Eerdmans, most of its Members of Parliament were not very visible or considered as charismatic as Fortuyn, while party leader Herben had enough work keeping the party from further infighting. The LPF also went into financial straits as many of its former financial backers left. Other commentators later claimed that the relative inexperience of some of the LPF's members and lack of internal structure hampered its ability to function as a coherent movement.[31] As the new coalition continued most of the former coalition's policies and Balkenende stated that he agreed with some of Fortuyn's views on multiculturalism and implemented some of his policy ideas, it became increasingly difficult for the LPF to present the anti-establishment or alternative image to the government which had galvanized support for the party in the first place.[32]
The LPF did see some success in the 2003 Dutch provincial elections in which it won 17 seats in eleven provinces, enabling it to qualify for a seat in the Senate which was taken by Rob Hessing. However, the party was beset by further internal problems and won just 2.6% of the vote in the 2004 European Parliament election, and did not win a seat. In this election, Paul van Buitenen surprisingly won two seats with his anti-corruption Europe Transparent (although it was not successful in the long term). By 2004, the LPF had fallen to a less than 1% support and disintegrated. The party had lost most of its members, and the parliamentary faction (with exception of Wien van den Brink) had declared itself independent from the party. In 2005, LPF minister and parliamentarian Hilbrand Nawijn held a meeting with Vlaams Belang politician Filip Dewinter in the former home of Fortuyn which caused uproar within the party since Fortuyn had stated he had wanted nothing to do with Dewinter's former Vlaams Blok party. Nawijn subsequently left the LPF and announced the formation of a new party with ideas closer to Vlaams Belang.[32]
List Five Fortuyn and dissolution (2006–2008)
The LPF attempted to start afresh and participated in the 2006 general election under its new name List Five Fortuyn (Lijst Vijf Fortuyn). On 25 September 2006, the party released a controversial campaign commercial which featured new leader Olaf Stuger coming down from "heaven" with a parachute and presenting himself as a "reincarnation" of Pim Fortuyn. Marten Fortuyn, brother of Pim Fortuyn, declared it "outrageous and tasteless."[33] In the election, LVF did not receive enough votes to secure a seat with support of only 0.2%. It also lost all of its seats in the 2007 Provincial Council elections, meaning it was no longer eligible for representation in the Senate. By this stage, many former LPF supporters were switching to the new Party for Freedom led by Geert Wilders which contained similar policies to the LPF and emerged as a successor.[34] In 2006, the party closed its office in the Hague and in July 2007 voted to dissolve itself by 1 January 2008.[35]
Ideology
The party was variously described as
Fortuynism
The
During the 2002 campaign, Fortuyn was accused of being on the "extreme right", although others saw only certain similarities.
Domestic policy
Many of the LPF's policies for the
The LPF also supported reforming the Dutch economic model, arguing that outdated bureaucracy and welfare systems had created psychological and physical barriers to entrepreneurship and modernization of the economy. Fortuyn supported locating workplaces, smaller schools and regional hospitals closer to communities, expanding internet infrastructure outside of cities and replacing parts of the state with digital technology. Some political historians describe the LPF as supporting "market populist" ideas and holding both a free market vision while stressing communitarian ideas and being one of the first European populist parties associated with a rise in anti-globalization arguments.[52][53]
Foreign policy
Although the LPF was established post-
Legacy
Fortuyn's political heritage became scattered among various politicians in the Netherlands, several of whom had begun their careers in the LPF, and tried founding parties of their own, most of which were unsuccessful. These included
In February 2006, soon before it fell out of parliament, the scholar Hans Jansen organised a conference in cooperation with the scientific committee of the LPF in the House of Representatives building that brought together several international anti-Islam figures, including Bat Ye'or, Daniel Pipes, Geert Wilders, Robert Spencer, Bruce Bawer, Lars Hedegaard, Ibn Warraq, Paul Beliën and Peder "Fjordman" Jensen.[58] This movement would eventually become known as the counter-jihad movement.[59]
In 2020, Eerdemans founded the JA21 party which claims to want to help "Fortuyn's ideas return to the House of Representatives".[60]
Although dissolved at national level, the name Pim Fortuyn List continued to be used for a period at municipal level by local branches that split off from the LPF in
Election results
House of Representatives
Election year | House of Representatives[65] | Government | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# of overall votes |
% of overall vote |
# of overall seats won |
+/– | ||
2002 | 1,614,801 | 17.0 (#2) | 26 / 150
|
New | Coalition |
2003 | 549,975 | 5.7 (#5) | 8 / 150
|
18 | Opposition |
2006 | 20,956 | 0.2 (#12) | 0 / 150
|
8 | Extra-parliamentary |
European Parliament
Election year | European Parliament[66] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
# of overall votes |
% of overall vote |
# of overall seats won |
+/– | |
2004 | 121,509 | 2.6 (#10) | 0 / 27
|
New |
Leadership
|
|
|
|
|
See also
- Party for Freedom (PVV) - Party founded in 2006.
- Forum for Democracy (FvD) – Party founded in 2016
- JA21 – Offshoot of FvD founded by Eerdmans in 2021
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin Politics and Governance in the Netherlands, Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49
- ISBN 9783593397931.
- ^ ISBN 978-953-7022-20-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7546-4851-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84545-190-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-137-31484-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4473-2695-3.
- ^ a b "Fortuynism without Fortuyn". The Economist. 28 November 2002.
- ^ a b Mudde 2007, pp. 213–214
- ^ "Interview with Belgium news agency". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11.
- ^ Oliver, Mark (7 May 2002). "The shooting of Pym Fortuyn". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
- ^ a b Rydgren & van Holsteyn 2005, p. 45
- ^ a b Mudde 2007, pp. 210–211
- ^ a b c d Mudde 2007, p. 211
- ^ a b c d Rydgren & van Holsteyn 2005, p. 46
- ^ Onderling wantrouwen zo oud als de LPF. De Volkskrant, 25 augustus 2004
- ^ Chris Thünnessen financier Verdonk. Quotenet, 20 juni 2008
- ^ Pim Fortuyn presenteert LPF Kandidaten Kubus (21 maart 2002) © YouTube
- ^ a b Rydgren & van Holsteyn 2005, p. 47
- ^ "Ad Melkert, meet Pim Fortuyn". The Economist. 28 March 2002.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "At home with 'Professor Pim'". 4 May 2002.
- ISBN 978-0-19-926036-2.
- ^ a b c Rydgren & van Holsteyn 2005, p. 48
- ^ "ISS Development Research Seminar Series – Autumn 2010". International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam. 15 December 2010.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|url=
(help) - ISBN 978-0-8223-4406-3.
- ISBN 978-90-5867-377-0.
- ^ Judd, Terri (12 July 2002). "Far right gets immigration post in new Dutch cabinet". The Independent. Archived from the original on March 2, 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
- ^ "Dutch minister resigns within hours", BBC News (Tuesday, 23 July 2002)
- ^ ISBN 978-90-420-1946-1.
- TheGuardian.com. 18 October 2002. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- ^ a b c Mudde 2007, p. 213
- ^ "Marten Fortuyn woedend over spot nieuwe LPF". RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 25 September 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
- ^ a b Castle, Stephen (22 November 2006). "Fortuyn's heirs eclipsed as big parties move right". The Independent. Rotterdam. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
- ^ "LPF to disband on New Year's Day 2008". DutchNews.nl. 23 July 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
- ISBN 9781317653912.
- ISBN 978-0-85724-091-0. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
- ISBN 9783593397931.
- ISBN 9781571816436.
- ^ "Interview with Belgium news agency". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11.
- ^ Oliver, Mark (7 May 2002). "The shooting of Pym Fortuyn". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
- ^ "I Say What I Mean and I Do What I say" (PDF). Retrieved 2024-03-22.
- ^ Rydgren & van Holsteyn 2005, pp. 48–49
- ^ "PROFILE – Gay right activist: Pim Fortuyn". Retrieved 2024-02-15.
- ^ Rydgren; van Holsteyn, 2005, p. 49.
- ISBN 978-0-8229-5845-1.
- ^ Alexander Bakker, Late biecht van ex-staatssecretaris, Algemeen Dagblad, January 1, 2006.
- ^ "The Forgotten Fortuyn". Retrieved 2024-03-10.
- ^ "France, Netherlands: Le Pen, Pim Fortuyn – Migration News | Migration Dialogue".
- ^ "Holland: Pim Fortuyn List leads new government's right-wing assault". 9 September 2002.
- ^ a b "Dutch fall for gay Mr Right". The Observer. 14 April 2002.
- ^ "The Forgotten Fortuyn". Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ^ "Pim Fortuyn And the 'new' far right in the Netherlands". Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ^ "Death makes Fortuyn an icon of Dutch right". The Irish Times.
- ^ "Pim Fortuyn: Man of paradox". CNN. May 9, 2002. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
- ^ Mudde 2007, pp. 216–218
- ^ "Rightist Candidate in Netherlands Is Slain, and the Nation Is Stunned". The New York Times. 7 May 2002.
- ISBN 9781317292890.
- ISBN 9781317292890.
- ^ Popelier, Jarry (2021-02-07). "JA21-oprichter Joost Eerdmans: 'Aan ons de taak het land te verdedigen'". Panorama (in Dutch).
- Sp!ts, 4 april 2008
- ^ Lokale LPF richting Verdonk Nederlands Dagblad, 4 april 2008
- ^ Dit is de uitslag van de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen in Eindhoven In de buurt, 22 maart 2018
- ^ "PRESS RELEASE". Retrieved 2024-04-03.
- ^ "Kiesraad - Verkiezingsuitslagen". www.verkiezingsuitslagen.nl. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
- ^ "Kiesraad - Verkiezingsuitslagen". www.verkiezingsuitslagen.nl. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
Bibliography
- Mudde, Cas (2007). "A Fortuynist Foreign Policy". In Liang, Christina Schori (ed.). Europe for the Europeans: the foreign and security policy of the populist radical right. Ashgate. pp. 209–222. ISBN 978-0-7546-4851-2.
- Rydgren, Jens; van Holsteyn, Joop (2005). "Holland and Pim Fortuyn: A Deviant Case or the Beginning of Something New?". In Rydgren, Jens (ed.). Movements of exclusion: radical right-wing populism in the Western world. Nova. pp. 41–64. ISBN 978-1-59454-096-7.