Farmers, long considered a bastion of support for the Christian Democrats, are turning their backs on prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, according to farming magazine Boerderij.

Only 38% of a representative poll of 500 farmers want to see him back as prime minister, 9% don’t know and 53% have had enough of him, the Telegraaf quotes the magazine as saying.
Meanwhile, the youth wing of the Christian Democrats in Maastricht have criticised the party’s speedy decision to appoint him head of the CDA election campaign for the fifth time.
‘To have led so many cabinets in such a short time, its becoming like Italy,’ chairman Egmond Evers told the NRC. ‘This conflicts with the calm and stability which the CDA is supposed to represent.’
Balkenende has led four governments over the past eight years, three of which collapsed prematurely and one was a stop-gap between elections.
To read why Balkenende is totally unsuited for the job, click here