The PvdA is still doing far from well in the polls. It is down 14 seats compared to the last elections. With only 16 seats to its name and overtaken by D66 and SP, the local party organisers announced last week that it is time for a strategy rethink. Elsevier and Trouw both comment on the fall, or at least the serious tumble, of a once great party.

Pro-European
Afshin Ellian in Elsevier finds it ‘incredible’ that the PvdA should have been brought this low. ‘The polls are making a mockery of Ronald Plasterk’s call for new elections’, Ellian says. But it’s not just the PvdA that is heading towards single seat figures, the Christian democrats are in trouble too. Ellian blames their pro-European stance. ‘Both parties are defending the Greek bail out and the European emergency fund for southern European countries. In a time when most of the population is turning Eurosceptic, CDA and PvdA are stalwart defenders of the Europhiles.’
Ellian then argues rather contradictorily that Europhiles looking for a ‘no-nuance Europhile party’ go to D66, a party which is ‘profiting by the shifting political sands’ and which the polls show to be gathering strength.
Cohen
The PvdA has another pressing problem, says Ellian: ‘Its name is Job Cohen. He is just not a good leader but nobody dares to say so’, is his analysis.
Local
Trouw in a comment strikes a friendlier note. It says that the call for reform has come late but that the party should be happy it came at all. The paper cites two reasons why Cohen is not the man to lead the reform. ‘Cohen is not an inspired ideologist. He would have made an excellent prime minister, of that there is no doubt. He has shown to have good governmental qualities but he does not have what it takes to reform his party.
The other reason is that reforms by Cohen would be reforms imposed by the party leadership. The initiative shown by the local party organisers shows that the party can still count on a loyal base.’
Trouw also cites the party’s pro-European stance which ‘has put it in a specific political camp’. ‘That in itself is not a bad thing and may even be the only right choice. But the party needs to discuss where the country is going and through it determine what its own role in this is going to be. The fact that the call for reform come from the grass roots does not necessarily put Cohen’s leadership into doubt.’