After the unexpected victory of centrist Rob Jetten in the legislative elections on October 29, coalition negotiations recently began in the Netherlands. As is often the case, they are expected to be very complicated. The leader of the social-liberal Democrats 66 (D66) party will either have to bring together the liberal right and the socialist and environmentalist left, thus overcoming deep divisions, or turn to smaller parties that risk weakening his future coalition. Currently, 15 parties are being represented in a House of Representatives more fragmented than ever before, and Jetten’s first challenge will be to quickly deliver on one of his campaign promises: to restore stability to a country that has been through nine different governments since 2002 and three elections in just five years.

Jetten, the young D66 leader who edged out Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV, far right), has offered renewed hope to those in the Netherlands and across Europe who wondered whether the rise of populist parties could be halted. The positive message he set against his rival’s “20 years of negativism” and his call to “think bigger” threw off his competitors and appealed to an electorate that has spent two decades searching for alternatives within a political system they see as too complicated and as unable to meet their expectations.

Undeniable democratic malaise

The heirs of populist politician Pim Fortuyn; Mark Rutte’s liberal right; Wilders’ PVV; Thierry Baudet’s radical right and Eurosceptic party, the agrarian Farmer – Citizen Movement (BBB); and the reformists of the New Social Contract have all, in turn, benefited from this persistent desire for change – all of which reveals an undeniable democratic malaise. Jetten has now benefited from yet another shift in an electorate that, at each election, seems to look for a new way forward, even if it means turning on those it once supported and casting them as scapegoats, blamed for failing to address their concerns. Certain concerns, in particular that populist narratives have been injected into public debate over the past 20 years, include: the country’s “identity,” immigration and asylum policy and the place of Islam within a largely secularized society.

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