Labour chairwoman Lilian Plouwman said on Nos tv that the door to the prime minister’s office is as open for her party’s leader Job Cohen as for VVD Liberal leader Mark Rutte.

According to the definitive exit poll, both parties are on target to take 31 seats.
Rutte told a jubilant crowd of supporters it is a ‘fantastic evening’.
‘We are the party for everyone who wants to make something of their lives,’ Rutte said.
Big loser of the night is the Christian Democrat party (CDA), set to see its seats more or less halved from 41 to just 21 seats.
Foreign minister in the outgoing cabinet Maxime Verhagen said he has spoken to party leader and outgoing prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende who said he was shocked by the extent of his party’s loss indicated by the exit poll. The results are ‘dramatic’, Verhagen said.
Outgoing health minister Ab Klink said the CDA loss is ‘bigger than expected’. The party’s number two on the candidate list, Ank Bijleveld, said her party is ‘very disappointed’ but would not be drawn on the consequences for Balkenende as party leader.
Winners

Among the vote winners is left-wing green party GroenLinks, forecast to take 11 seats. Leader
Femke Halsema was one of the first party leaders to react to the exit poll prognosis, saying it was a ‘fantastic and unbelievable victory’.
Boris van der Ham, number two on the candidate list for the Liberal democrats D66 said: ‘The winner is Alexander Pechtold, D66 is back on the map’. The party is forecast to take 10 seats, up from three at the previous election.
SP’s Emile Roemer said that after a hard period Wednesday’s result looks like it will be a gilt-edged loss. The party had 25 seats and is now on target to take 15, but this is better than opinion polls had indicated. Roemer took over as party leader just two months ago.

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