Social Democratic victory in The Netherlands

I was very happy to read that the Dutch social democratic party (PvdA) emerged as winners of Tuesday’s local elections in the Netherlands. Main losers? The three parties of the current center-right coalition government…
Radio Netherlands reports in English:

While local elections have no formal consequences in terms of Dutch national politics, the outcome of this particular vote does have an impact on the current government in The Hague, for the voters used the polls to express their rejection of the policies of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

The leader of the conservative-liberal VVD, Jozias van Aartsen, has already drawn his own conclusions, and resigned. […]

The people of the Netherlands appear to have had enough of the policies of this centre-right cabinet. The signal they sent could not have been clearer, for the opposition parties made considerable gains.

In just over a year's time, the country will be voting again in the general election […]

So, hopefully we will have PvdA back in national office next year, focusing on sustainable growth and welfare policies. If we win in Italy in April, the left will be about to get a momentum in European politics again.