Hostage to Fortuyn

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The Netherlands ought to be one of the toughest places in Europe for the far right to get a toehold. Prosperous and with low unemployment, tolerant and proudly multicultural, the country has long been a place where the politicians fine-tune consensus in long, well-behaved coalition talks. But into that idyll last week crashed Pim Fortuyn, 54, who rode an unapologetically anti-immigration platform to a substantial victory in local elections in Rotterdam, the country's second city, where many of the country's 800,000 Muslims live. His local party, Livable Rotterdam, won 17 out of the 45 seats in the municipal council, besting all three of the country's ruling coalition parties. "It's shocking that someone without a clear political program can get so many votes," said Labor Party leader Ad Melkert.

If he sounds worried, no wonder. Less than two months before May 15 national parliamentary elections, Melkert and the Dutch political establishment now have to face up not only to their own electoral mishap, but also to a potentially powerful demagogic force. Some polls suggest that his newly formed national party, Fortuyn List, could land as many as 18 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament, enough to play a key role in the formation of a new government coalition.

Fortuyn clearly holds no truck with consensus. Less than a month ago he was tossed out of Livable Netherlands, the national party he joined late last year, for insulting Muslims. His opinions should have come as a surprise to no one. A former academic sociologist, the openly gay Fortuyn gained notoriety in the late 1990s through his spicy column in the weekly Elsevier. In 1997 he published a book calling Islam "a backward culture," saying: "For Muslims, as a homosexual, I am less than a pig. I am proud that in the Netherlands I can come out for my homosexuality, and I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much." In the campaign, Fortuyn called for a total freeze on immigration to the Netherlands, which he says is "full." He also said the Dutch should scrap the clause in the constitution that bans discrimination.

Opinions like that, along with his shaved head and in-your-face attitude, have assured Fortuyn no shortage of media attention. Indeed, some blamed the media for Fortuyn's success. After his own party's disaster became clear last Wednesday, local City Party leader Manuel Kneepkens left Rotterdam city hall sneering at journalists: "You've got this on your conscience. You've created a monster."

Would that it were that simple. Like others of his ilk, notably Austrian Jörg Haider, Fortuyn has surely profited from a sense of public frustration over the cozy consensus among established Dutch political parties. He has played incessantly on distrust of Muslims, and his promises to beef up police evidently appeals to urban dwellers who feel unsafe on their own streets. "Everyone in my local pub voted for him, because there is a small gang of Moroccan kids that terrorize the neighborhood," says Cathy Brouwer, a human-resources worker in Rotterdam. "They somehow think Fortuyn is the answer, which, of course, he isn't."

Many fear that Fortuyn is likely to sow more fear than he dispels. "People basically voted against their own neighbors," says Rotterdam psychotherapist Danny de Vries. "This is a very worrying situation." The Turkish community in the city's Afrikaner neighborhood tried to mobilize the Muslim vote by setting up a polling station in a mosque, but turnout was low.

Fortuyn may have plenty of charisma, but he doesn't yet have much of a political operation. His success in Rotterdam, though, will no doubt help him add to the some 30 candidates — including doctors, lawyers and one police chief — on his Fortuyn List. The ultranationalist Vlaams Blok in neighboring Belgium, which had the strongest showing in 2000 local elections in Antwerp, has been isolated by a cordon sanitaire agreement among other parties. Whether Fortuyn should get the same treatment is already being passionately discussed in the coming months.

The vexing newcomer may yet fade back into obscurity if he is unable to master his quarrelsome tongue. But Fortuyn's strong showing last week suggests that he may not be standing outside when those endless Dutch coalition talks begin this spring.