As liberal-progressive D66 party makes huge gains in election, former junior athlete with ‘positive story’ and ‘vision’ leads race for power
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Rob Jetten, a former junior athlete, was pictured last month in a sports magazine running merrily past the Dutch prime ministerial office in The Hague. The 38-year-old could be forgiven on Thursday for wondering when he will get the keys.
Such is the nature of Dutch politics that confirmation will not come for weeks or even months. But after a general election in which Jetten’s liberal-progressive D66 party made huge gains, he appears almost certain to be the Netherlands’ next prime minister.
Speaking to an ecstatic crowd of supporters on Wednesday night, Jetten said the backing for his pro-European, pro-climate party marked the end of the far right’s stranglehold over Dutch politics – and showed the rest of Europe that the centre can hold.
