Polls divided as election campaign closes

As the general election campaign draws to a close, the opinion polls are hopelessly divided about how the vote is likely to turn out.


Most indicate that the gap between the ruling Christian Democrats (CDA) and the main opposition Labour (PvdA) party is very small. The final internet-based poll by Maurice de Hond gives CDA 42 seats and Labour 39. The Interview/NSS poll for tv programme Nova puts the two parties on 43 and 37 respectively.
TNS/Nipo also has the CDA in the lead, but it puts the Socialist Party in second place, one seat ahead of Labour, which it tips to win 31 seats. And the number of floating voters has risen to 40%, according to the Volkskrant.
With the polls divided, party leaders have been making last-ditch attempts to win over the floating voters before Wednesday’s ballot. ChristenUnie’s André Rouvoet – tipped to at least double its MPs to six or seven – says his party would consider the return of hardline integration minister Rita Verdonk (Liberal VVD) in a new cabinet as an obstacle to joining a right-leaning coalition with the CDA and VVD.
Meanwhile, a Rotterdam judge has rejected calls to ban a tv election broadcast by anti-immigration party EénNL, which compares the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s to the ‘islamisation’ of the Netherlands. The judge said that the TV spot was offensive, but not offensive enough. Freedom of speech is more important, NOS news reported the judge as saying.

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