THE HAGUE, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Latest polls released on Tuesday showed that there was a high number of floating voters in the Netherlands over the upcoming election scheduled on Wednesday.
Poll research institute Ipsos Synovate calculated that 43 percent of the electorate was not sure who to vote for, indicating that the outcome of the election is still highly uncertain as many voters remain undecided.
Besides, under the Dutch electoral system, parties' vote shares translate directly into seats in parliament, with only 0.67 percent of the nationwide vote is needed for a single seat, which would result in a wide offer of its 21 political parties.
Meanwhile, the latest polls also indicated that the major two parties remain neck-and-neck and speculation is mounting about the form the next coalition government.
The latest polls put the VVD, lead by the outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and PvdA, the socialist party headed by former Greenpeace activist Diederik Samsom, on around 35 seats in the 150-seat parliament, underlining a possibility of coalition.
However, in a national TV debate on Monday evening, both leaders refused to speculate about possible coalitions.
The VVD is a liberal party supporting private enterprises. During the Dutch general-election of 2010 the VVD obtained the highest number of votes cast, taking 31 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.
After long negotiations a minority government was formed by the VVD and the CDA (Christian Democrats). The two parties made a policy agreement with the PVV in order to achieve a small majority in parliament. In April this year the government of Rutte handed resignation over disagreement on the budget and austerity measures.
Under the leadership of Rutte, the government has taken a euro-skeptic tone, opposing moves to let Romania and Bulgaria to join the Schengen passport-free travel area.
During the election campaign, Rutte has stated that "enough is enough" when it came to Greece and a third bailout, raising strong criticism in the Netherlands and abroad.
|
