List Pim Fortuyn

Lijst Pim Fortuyn (List Pim Fortuyn) is a political party in the Netherlands.

The 2002 elections, and participation in the first Balkenende cabinet

The party decided to maintain Fortuyn's candidacy for the elections, and delay naming a new leader until after the elections. The elections proved a great success for the LPF. They won 26 seats out of 150, becoming the second-largest party in parliament. It is still unclear how many voters based their choice on political conviction and how many voted for the LPF because its leader had been murdered; many voters gave one or both reasons. Mat Herben was chosen to be the new party leader. Together with the CDA (Christian Democrats) and the VVD (Liberals) the party formed part of the governing coalition, supplying several members of Balkenende's cabinet.

Related Topics:
Mat Herben - CDA - VVD - Balkenende's cabinet

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Chaos started the day the cabinet was installed. Only nine hours after the queen had sworn in the cabinet members, junior minister Philomena Bijlhout had to resign, following an event at the post-ceremony press conference. A journalist showed her a photograph of her wearing a military uniform, in a militia of Dési Bouterse,

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and Bijlhout identified herself in the photo. The photograph proved that she had been a member of the militia for longer than she had previously admitted, through the period of the notorious Suriname "December murders" in 1982. Balkenende and Herben forced her to resign following this revelation. A new controversy developed after Bijlhout stated that she would not give up the unemployment benefits she was entitled to for two years, based on her ministerial salary. The party experienced great difficulty in finding a replacement for her in the cabinet, to the increasing impatience of the other coalition parties.

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A few days later, July 26, the new minister for health, Eduard Bomhoff,

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was reportedly wanting to dismiss one of his top officials, Peter van Lieshout. However, the employment of top officials in the Netherlands is coordinated by

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the ministry of internal affairs and the minister Johan Remkes said he

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needed good grounds before dismissing somebody. Lieshout was eventually transferred to another department.

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Continuous bickering and scandals within the LPF party as a whole, within the LPF parliament faction, between LPF ministers and high-ranking government officials and between LPF officials and the press went on daily for two months. Party officials came and went. The LPF lost two seats in parliament when Winnie de Jong and Cor Eberhard left the party and started a new faction, after they accused the party of lack of internal democracy. Mat Herben was replaced by Harry Wijnschenk as parliamentary faction leader. In the few weeks that Wijnschenk presided things got out of hand even further. Herben was reinstated the day before the cabinet fell.

Related Topics:
Winnie de Jong - Cor Eberhard - Harry Wijnschenk

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On October 16, after only 86 days, the new cabinet fell, mainly because the CDA and VVD faction leaders found the LPF to be a liability. The final issue was the open animosity between the two LPF ministers, Eduard Bomhoff (vice prime minister) and Herman Heinsbroek (soon claiming this post for himself, with support of the faction leader).

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