Geert Wilders will not become prime minister of a new right-wing cabinet to be formed – nor will Dilan Yesilgöz, Pieter Omtzigt and Caroline van der Plas. But who should do the job? The greatest support appears to be for Klaas Dijkhoff and Kim Putters, according to research among the RTL News Panel.
“We presented people with numerous possible candidates: the numbers two of the negotiating parties PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB, for example, but also other names of former ministers and former party leaders that were mentioned in recent weeks,” explains RTL pollster Gijs Rademaker from. “We asked each candidate individually whether they would be ‘acceptable’ as prime minister.”
Klaas Dijkhoff
There is the most support for Klaas Dijkhoff, former party leader of the VVD and for a long time the ‘crown prince’ of that party under Rutte. A small majority of 53 percent sees Dijkhoff as an acceptable prime minister. It is striking that he is not only popular among the VVD supporters (81 percent support), but also has quite a bit of support among left-wing voters. Only PVV voters are not so enthusiastic: a minority (43 percent) think he is suitable.
Five questions
No Prime Minister Wilders, but who will be in the Tower?
Political reporter Frits Wester believes there is little chance that Dijkhoff will take a seat in the Torentje. “He has repeatedly said that he is not available because he chooses his family.” Wester is not surprised that there is little support among PVV voters: “Dijkhoff has been critical on several occasions in the past about working with the PVV.”
“And then the question remains whether the negotiating parties will choose someone with such a high party political (VVD) profile as Dijkhoff,” Wester continues. “It makes sense to hire someone with a less sharp profile from outside, who also has a lot of administrative experience.”
Kim Putters
Former informant Kim Putters receives almost as much support as Dijkhoff: 50 percent see him as an acceptable prime minister. “His information round was a great achievement,” says one participant. “He stands well above the parties.”
Frits Wester: “You never know what will happen next, but at the moment Putters just doesn’t want to. And he is from the PvdA family, I find it difficult to imagine that parties would agree to that.”
Putters is followed by Jeanine Hennis (37 percent), Mona Keijzer (35 percent) and Ronald Plasterk (33 percent). “Apart from Dijkhoff and Putters, I don’t see any other names with broad support,” says Rademaker. “And these two are also only seen as acceptable prime ministers by about half of the people. It shows how difficult it is to come up with a candidate who has experience and appeals to broad groups.”
Less known, more experience
Frits Wester suggests that the prime minister’s post could also be occupied by someone who is less known to people. “A King’s Commissioner, for example. A good eye for political and administrative processes is important. Such a person will then have to be able to ‘grow’ in the prime minister’s position, but experience is of course required: the premiership is not an internship.”
Accountability
The survey was conducted on March 14 to 15 among more than 16,000 members of the RTL News Panel. After weighting, the study is representative of five variables, namely: age, gender, education, employment and political preference. The RTL News Panel has more than 43,000 members.
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See also: ‘Wilders won elections, but loses Torentje’
01:34
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The premiership is not in the cards for Geert Wilders. The parties PVV, NSC, VVD and BBB have decided this.
Source: RTL News
2024-03-15 16:34:03
#Dutch #prefer #candidates #prime #minister
