‘Het kan wel’, a play on Barack Obama’s ‘Yes, we can’ quip, was ringing out in the Netherlands as Rob Jetten and his liberal D66 party surprised the pundits by winning the Dutch General Election last week. It was a close-run thing though, and it was only after all the postal votes had been counted that he was declared victorious against Geert Wilders’ nationalist PVV party, by a historically small margin of 28,000 votes. D66 will now be able to look to form a coalition government after increasing their seats from 9 in 2023 to 26 seats. 

Jetten’s style in this election was positive and energetic. It was clear that he was playing straight from the Obama and Trudeau copybook, and it cut through against the doom and gloom politics of the parties on the right and left. Jetten tapped into the question of ‘who’s flag’, by declaring himself a positive patriot and being photographed in the red, white and blue of the Dutch flag. He also made a good account of himself, and his party, in the media and even appeared on a popular TV quiz show, that seemed to work wonders for his personal credentials.  

Despite being only 38 years old, Jetten has been in Dutch politics for several years now and looks likely to be the youngest Dutch Prime Minister in Dutch history. He will also be the first openly gay Prime Minister. There is still a lot of negotiations to be had to form a coalition, but it looks like he could make the numbers work with the centre-ground parties of the Labour/Green Left, the Christian Democrats, or the VVD. With 76 seats needed for a majority, they may wish to bring in all these parties into the coalition to boost their numbers (to 86) in the House of Representatives.  

While it was a great night for liberals in the Netherlands, it was terrible for the PVV. Geert Wilders, a peroxide haired veteran, was seen as the pantomime villain having been the man who broke the last coalition leading to this snap election. His party lost 11 seats, and more importantly, lost the status of ‘man of the people’. Other hard right parties did make gains, and it’s not clear now whether he will continue as their leader, or whether there will be a realignment on the right of Dutch politics.  

As for the other liberal party in the Netherlands, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, the VVD, they had a bizarre night. Despite losing two seats and dropping to their lowest share of the vote since the 1970s, there were scenes of jubilation as, up until a fortnight ago, it looked like it would have been a truly terrible night for the once dominant party of Mark Rutte. They were rescued by leader, Dilan Yesilgoz’s, strong performances in the final few televised debates. There will be an element of soul-searching for their members, but it looks likely that they will support Jetten’s formation of a coalition.  

D66’s success has come from a long march from obscurity. In 2006, they only just survived by a slither (winning only 3 seats) in the General Election and looked set to remain in the shadow of other parties from the centre ground, including the VVD. Many Liberal Democrats who attended the 2015 Autumn Conference in Bournemouth might remember a speech from Sophie in’t Veld, the then D66 MEP, who spoke about how, from a party’s lowest point, they can rebuild into a political force. This is something for Liberal Democrats to take note of.  

Jetten’s D66 has shown that there is a blueprint for winning from the centre and that the decline in liberalism is not a foregone conclusion. The Dutch had looked set for the nationalist right PVV to be the biggest party again, but through positive politics, D66 have shown that the nice guys can finish first.  

* Jonathan is a Lib Dem member in Bath and graduated with an MA in European Politics at the University of Exeter.