With eight days to go before the Dutch general election on October 29, here is a round-up of the latest election news.

Christian Democrat leader Henri Bontenbal has been criticised for saying he would not interfere in Reformist schools that teach that homosexual relationships are wrong.

Bontenbal said the freedom of organisations to run their own schools, which is guaranteed by Article 23 of the Dutch constitution, should be defended even if it clashed with other rights.

“There’s a difference between my personal view, because I disagree with it, and a what I see as a religious perspective on homosexuality,” the CDA leader said. “Those two things clash, but the freedom of education is so important that we have to accept it.”

During an extended interview with Nieuwsuur Bontenbal was shown a clip of a gay former Reformed school pupil who was taught that same-sex attraction was only acceptable if he abstained from sexual activity. “You don’t want to be the person who has to carry the cross of being alone for ever,” the man said.

The left-wing alliance GroenLinks-PvdA and the progressive liberal party D66, both of whom could form a coalition with the CDA after the election, were both critical of Bontenbal’s stance.

Safe place

Lisa Westerveld, GL-PvdA’s spokeswoman on equal rights, said in a message on social media site X: “A school should be a safe place for all pupils. That’s the law as well.”

D66 leader Rob Jetten said the exchange underlined the differences between his party and the CDA on issues such as equal rights, euthanasia and abortion.

“The CDA are an obvious coalition partner for us, but we see the ‘Christian’ part of CDA still resonates loudly when it concerns the importance of freedom of religion over tackling other obstacles to freedom,” he told Goedemorgen Nederland.

Keijzer on song for BBB

The privacy watchdog AP voters has warned voters not to rely on AI chatbots, but BBB candidate Mona Keijzer has found a more creative use for the virtual assistant.

Keijzer used AI to write a campaign song with the title ‘Palingpopulist’, first used as a pejorative by GroenLinks-PvdA MP Jesse Klaver in a TV talk show discussion.

Keijzer, who hails from the fishing town of Volendam, has since embraced the term and been photographed eating eel rolls at roadside stalls on the campaign trail.

The lyrics of the song, written and recorded using AI, describe her as a champion of “fishermen, workers and people who get up early”. It also says she represents “a voice that isn’t heard but exists” – in the voice of a non-existent, computer-generated singer.