I know all of you have been eagerly awaiting updates about the Dutch cabinet crisis I blogged about earlier. Well, here are some interesting recent developments. First, the most recent polls show that the PvdA (the red line in the graph below) continues to gain from resisting troop renewals in Afghanistan and forcing the cabinet crisis. The party has won nearly 10 seats in the pollls since the crisis.
Second, and more puzzling, two of the politicians who stood to gain most from these developments have decided in the last two days that they need to spend more time with their families (see also here). PvdA leader Wouter Bos, who was much beleaguered before the crisis but came out of it the undisputable leader of his party, made the announcement today. This follows a similar announcement by Camiel Eurlings, who was seen as the crown prince for current prime minister Balkenende.
Third, the recent polls and local election results imply that the prospect of Geert Wilders’ PVV becoming the largest party is a realistic one. In the Netherlands, the largest party almost always delivers the prime-minister. Speculation on what this would mean will have to wait until another blog post. In the mean time, go read why Daniel Pipes is enthusiastic about it and even calls him “the most important European alive today” while Ian Buruma is a little less impressed with Wilders.