NETHERLANDS: Dutch PM Rutte makes last-ditch attempt to win over undecided voters one day before a general election

Record ID: 863554

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: Dutch PM Rutte makes last-ditch attempt to win over undecided voters one day before a general election
  • Date: 11th September 2012
  • Summary: CHILD SITTING IN BICYCLE CART HOLDING VVD (LIBERAL PARTY) BALLOON
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Netherlands
  • City:
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD80NEZ401Q2SYL2K564BIVPI4
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  • Story Text: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte makes a last-ditch attempt to win over undecided voters one day before a general election.


    Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte made a last-ditch attempt to win over undecided voters one day before the Netherlands heads to a general election.
    Rutte, leader of the Liberal Party VVD handed out party leaflets and fridge magnets in the Hague on Tuesday (September 11) as he campaigned to stay on as Prime Minister of his country.
    According to the latest opinion polls, the Liberals and Labour are in a dead heat after the leftist party made a surprising rebound in less than a month, and would need just one other party to form a coalition government together.
    The run-up to the election has been dominated by the euro zone crisis, and is considered a microcosm of the wider European debate over austerity versus stimulus as a solution.
    In his election campaign, Rutte promised voters Greece would not get any more money, whereas Labour leader Diederik Samsom who wants the Netherlands to be given more time to meet its own EU budget targets, said Greece may have to be given more time if it is to have a chance of staying in the euro.
    Rutte on Tuesday emphasised the importance of keeping the country's debt well within the limits set by Brussels.
    "Well, we have asked Brussels for other countries to impose these limits, we are doing it, because we believe, not because of Brussels, but because we believe it is crucial for economic growth, to come out of this crisis stronger than before. But first of all we have to get our state finances in order and at the same time we have to make money available to invest in our roads, in education, in all the important sectors which will help us to grow our economy and we need to find money which we pledged to do in 2014 and then on to lower the taxes," Rutte told a crowd.
    Samsom has emerged as the star of several televised debates over the past two weeks, propelling his party from fourth to joint first place.
    Some analysts predict Labour could even overtake the Liberals on election day.
    The two parties have been coalition partners before but on Monday they downplayed the option of governing together, with Rutte saying that was an "unlikely" outcome.
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