- Mon Dec 19, 2016 6:55 pm
#488581
The Dutch Labour Party's poll ratings are tanking and it missed the chance to elect a popular leader who is a Muslim mayor of a major city. The current leader's unpopularity is more comparable with Nick Clegg than Corbyn.How the Dutch Left blew it
Next year’s election is shaping up to be a fight between two right-wing leaders.
Ahmed Aboutaleb was giving a lot of Dutch politicians sleepless nights earlier this year. A moderate Muslim of Moroccan descent, the mayor of Rotterdam is the most popular politician in the country.
Had he entered the fray as his party’s candidate in the Netherlands’ national elections next March, it would have upended the race. Instead, Aboutaleb dropped out of the contest for his party’s leadership before it even began, retreating from national politics altogether.
Late last week, the Labour Party chose as its leader Lodewijk Asscher, a party stalwart who served as deputy prime minister in coalition with Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a fiscal conservative.
The Labour Party has struggled ever since it decided in 2012 to join Rutte in reforming the welfare state. The economy recovered, but Labour never did. http://www.politico.eu/article/how-dutc ... k-asscher/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;