|
 |
Turbulent times for Dutch politics
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands (Reuters) -- The murder of Dutch right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn was the culmination of a tumultuous few months for a normally staid Dutch political system. Following is a chronology of recent events:
February
Ex-sociology professor and magazine columnist Fortuyn kicked out of grassroots "Liveable Netherlands" party after branding Islam backward and saying Dutch borders should be shut in a newspaper interview that horrifies the country.
March
|
EXTRA INFORMATION
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Fortuyn forms his own party, "Pim Fortuyn List," on a populist taboo-breaking, anti-immigration platform. Opinion polls show him as high as second place as he sucks away support from established parties.
Local elections on March 6 send shockwaves through political establishment as Fortuyn's newcomer local party "Liveable Rotterdam" becomes biggest winner in the Netherlands' second city.
April
Long-awaited Dutch report into 1995 Srebrenica massacre -- the worst atrocity of the Bosnian war -- accuses politicians of sending Dutch U.N. peacekeepers on a mission impossible in a "safe area" which fell to Bosnian Serbs despite the troops' presence.
Less than a week after the Srebrenica report by the Netherlands' Institute for War Documentation, Prime Minister Wim Kok's entire cabinet resigns in atonement for the Bosnia fiasco. Dutch army's top general quits one day later.
May
Fortuyn shot dead by unidentified gunman on May 6 after giving a radio interview, just nine days before general election.
Kok says May 15 general election to go ahead as planned after a meeting of political leaders including those of Fortuyn's party.
|
|
|
