The elections in the Netherlands did not show a shift to the left
Don’t feel obligated to believe the international press agencies’ reporting
I’ve been following Dutch politics closely for 62+ years and have gotten used to forming my own views by digesting a wide variety of opinions.
In last week’s national elections, the greenest and most Woke D66 Party received the most votes, just ahead of Wilders. Yet, five parties finished neck-and-neck, but this winner only got 17 % of the cast votes.
The 150 seats in the Dutch Lower House can each be won without a threshold. This ensures that small parties can enter national politics and have their voices heard. In the past decade, several one-person parties have had tremendous influence and sometimes grew in the subsequent election into major parties.
The downside of having an ear for many are voting sheets that need to be folded (and unfolded) many times to fit the ballot box slit, sheets the size of small child bed sheets, and that forming a majority government requires a coalition of at least three and possibly even six parties. Coalition parties can then claim they didn’t betray their election promises, since they each had to give up certain points in the compromise to get to a consensus.
This has been dubbed the ‘polder model,’ striving for consensus from pluriformity, so different from the two-party system, where the winner takes all. My English Word spell-checker lacks the word ‘pluriformity.’
The famously tolerant, densely populated, small, rich, largely secularized former world power now has a population of 18 million. Prior PM Rutte had carelessly destroyed anything in society he could while protecting the short-term financial interests of the rich, just like Trump, but without the gimmicks. He left for NATO, leaving behind a nation fed up with a refugee and housing crisis and unsolvable environmental problems. Generally, the Dutch majority votes right-wing, and that was not different now.
The Dutch 2025 elections, contrary to what was widely but incorrectly reported, did not show a sudden progressive, anti-conservative surge. Many voters did switch parties, but on both sides of the aisle, without much crossing over to the other side of the left-right divide.
Labor fused with the Green Party, the latter obliterating the former. Their party leader, Timmermans (Labor), lost big. The votes went to Jetten’s D66. The latter campaigned with a broad, relaxed smile, ‘Yes We Can,’ and by reclaiming the right-wing happily waving of small Dutch flags.
Wilders either had to get the absolute majority or was doomed to the opposition since no larger party wanted to work with him. Many previous Wilders voters now went to the untainted, one-seat Wilders-light Ja21 Party, which gained a remarkable eight seats and may join any coalition.
The results for the top five are now: Labor lost, and Timmermans resigned. Wilders lost but still stands among the five larger parties. The center-left Christian Democrats lost many seats due to a blunder by their leader in the last pre-election TV debate but still won many compared to the previous election. Rutte’s VVD almost regained all the seats lost previously. As the frontrunner, D66‘s Jetten should try to form a coalition and become PM.
Labor/Green and D66 are solidly left-wing, while the VVD and Ja21 are solidly right-wing. Labor/Green and the VVD have ruled each other out before the polls. If they broke that promise, the next election, which could be in another year, could see the voters abandon them en masse.
A striking detail (all the above is highly simplified to convey the essentials) is that D66 seems the preferred party choice among civil servants and judges, both groups hindering right-wing politics to a ridiculous degree.
Much reported and stressed all over the world, but not in the Netherlands, is that Jetten is openly Gay. The Dutch don’t care much. PM Rutte publicly was asexual, forever single, married to politics, and no one cared either. No pollster asked how many voted for Jetten for his striking looks. He is engaged to an Argentine hockey player ten years his junior. They met shopping in their local mini-mart. At 38, Jetten would be the youngest Dutch PM ever and refuses to color his first gray hairs. The Dutch King’s beloved wife is from Argentina, too. Wilders and Jetten both have Indonesian roots, explaining their black hair, which Wilders bleaches.
The refugee crisis again played a major role in these elections, but many international reporters hijack any way the Dutch vote as just about that.
About the Author
MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. *
As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. *
This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Of the 15 (!) books he has in mind, the next two are about homosexuality in Judaism and new rabbinics. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2600 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog that also may contain updates to Times of Israel posts, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. *
He's getting ready to publicize books on: "Free Will, "Judaism and Homosexuality, "His parents in the Holocaust, "Judaism, "A New Torah Translation and "A New Hebrew Grammar, "Co-Counseling, "Vegan Facts, "Immortality, and more. *
Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He agrees that in a post-truth world, that's irrelevant, but then this is for the record. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. *
Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. *
Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. *
He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. *
He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. *
He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. *
His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. His posts are spell, grammar, and style polished by AI, but all written by himself. *
To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. *
His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
