The PvdA is facing a massive crisis. After its failed attempt at seizing governmental power, chaos reigns at party headquarters, writes Afshin Ellian in Elsevier.

The monarchical appointment of Job Cohen as leader has not done the party any good at all.
He has been unable to communicate the PvdA message while lack of consistency, leadership and eloquence have further weakened the party’s position.
Downhill
After the elections the social democrats started to slide and they have been going downhill ever since. The organisational chaos turned into ideological confusion. What was the social democratic message for the 21st century?
Initially the party hoped to avoid having to answer the question by hiding behind the turmoil in the CDA. The CDA revolt neatly distracted attention away from the PvdA which hoped that one third of the CDA party faithful would block the formation of the cabinet. But it didn’t. The majority of people at the CDA congress voted in favour and that’s when things began to get difficult for the PvdA.
Wilders
By blocking a number of crucial social security reforms, Wilders defended the leftist social perspective. His attitude represented a major headache for the party. How was the PvdA going to oppose this?
Instead of re-inventing the social democracy, the party is opting for a socialist course. The Socialist Party is the PvdA’s bogey man. But in order to combat Wilders’ leftist economic principles Cohen chooses to ally himself with the SP. Is this a logical thing to do? Not really.
Once the PvdA has become no more than an SP annex, it will wither away. There are numerous reasons why. If the party identifies with the SP’s left populist line, it will make itself redundant. The SP after all is a true left populist movement.
The PvdA can never be more leftist or more populist than the SP. Moreover, voters know that this change of tack is an opportunistic one, motivated by fear.

Left liberals
And that is not all. Many PvdA voters do not belong to leftist populist groups. They are left liberals.
The more the PvdA nudges up to the SP, the more these voters will turn to GroenLinks or D66. Femke Halsema was right when she said that instead of opting for the conservative left represented by the SP Cohen should go for a left liberal line.
If the PvdA were to lean towards a left liberal stance again it could possibly come back. And the SP? A significant number of its voters would turn to the PVV.
Why? Because Wilders, unlike the SP, has proven that he is able to govern. A vote for the SP is a vote for useless demonstrations and a lot of shouting in the streets. A vote for the SP will not result in a cabinet with any SP ministers in it. The neo communist SP, lead by Marijnissen, has been shown to be unwilling and unable to take government responsibility.
PVV
If the left populist vote were to go to the PVV, it would help the PvdA considerably. It would be much easier to differentiate between the two.
But before the PvdA can become ideologically whole again it needs to find a new, eloquent leader. And it won’t happen before the provincial elections.
This is an unofficial translation