Dutch vote could affect how EU tackles debt crisis
-A A +AWednesday, September 12, 2012
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Dutch voters can change their country's course in tackling the European debt crisis when they elect a new parliament Wednesday.
Voting booths opened early in the morning at thousands of locations around the country in an election that has boiled down to a tight race between the free-market VVD party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the center-left Labor Party led by Diederik Samsom, with other parties trailing.
The Dutch proportional representation system and splintered political landscape guarantee a coalition government and whichever party wins the most seats in the 150-seat Dutch House of Representatives will take the lead in choosing the parties to make up the next ruling coalition.
Rutte is a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and supports her budgetary austerity agenda for reining in the debt crisis. Samsom is closer to French President Francois Hollande, who favors spending to spur economic growth.
"We need to form a stable government that can help this country out of the crisis," Samsom said in a final televised debate Tuesday night. (AP)
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