‘It is possible!’ – in Leiden, D66 is ecstatically celebrating its biggest win ever

All evening, Dutch flags – and a few European ones – have been flying through the hall of the Nobel music venue in Leiden, where D66 is celebrating election night. As soon as the NOS cameras are running, they move from left to right.

But when the first Ipsos exit poll appears at nine o’clock and it turns out that D66 has achieved the biggest victory in party history, the enthusiasm in the room really explodes. The seven hundred members jump, cheer and wave the flags. Fists go up in the air. “It is possible! It is possible!”, the room echoes.

According to the forecasts, D66 will not only achieve the largest profit, but also the highest number of seats ever. And as time goes by, this increasingly dawns on those present – ​​from the floor to the two-storey balconies. People cry, hug and throw beer.

Rob Jetten (38 years old) makes his way through a frenzied hall around 10:30 PM, shining, with his fist in the air, while ’15 million people’ by Fluitsma & Van Tijn blares from the speakers. The crowd shouts the campaign slogan again. Jetten: “We did it! The best result of D66 ever and we are perhaps the largest party in the country!”

To tempt

If Jetten actually turns out to be the largest after the votes have been counted, he will be given the initiative to form a new coalition on Friday. Two logical options appear, based on the forecast: through the middle with GroenLinks-PvdA, CDA and VVD; or via the right, with VVD, CDA and JA21.

He will not be tempted to make any statements about who he would prefer to form a coalition with on Wednesday evening when he speaks to the press. First he wants to think. He says in particular that “the positive forces” have won many seats. “Millions of Dutch people have turned the page today. Today they said goodbye to negativism, hatred, it is not possible. They chose positive forces.”

Jetten stood at the conference in front of a waving Dutch flag, which he wanted to reclaim from the radical right

He calls VVD, GroenLinks-PvdA and CDA positive forces. But he doesn’t rule out JA21 either, he says. He didn’t do that during the entire campaign.

(Candidate) MPs from D66 did not dare to predict how many seats the party would have to get to achieve the goal mentioned by Jetten, of getting many voters in the middle to join D66 for the first time, or again. Fifteen seats – that was a beautiful dream for some for a long time. The nine seats that D66 received in 2023 were a hard blow. In 2021, she won 24 seats with then party leader Sigrid Kaag.

But since the fall of the cabinet in June, a tight campaign has been conducted, on which no other party spent as much money as D66: more than 2 million euros, according to the Political Advertising site.

Optimistic

The social liberals have been presenting themselves more as a middle party in their communications for some time now. At the conference in early October, for example, Jetten stood in front of a waving Dutch flag, which he wanted to reclaim from the radical right. The D66 leader also consistently gave an optimistic story to the campaign, with the construction of ten new cities serving as a metaphor for daring to dream (again).

D66 was also lucky. Because Geert Wilders did not attend the first RTL debate on October 12 due to threats, Jetten was able to join. And he made a good impression there. Since then, say D66 members in the audience in Leiden, things have gone really well.

Jetten made a misstep in the last campaign week, by starting about Princess Amalia, who serves as a reservist. During the EenVandaag debate he said that the “guys” in the room would certainly find it tempting to serve with her. He came back to that later: a bit too clumsy, perhaps. It did not deter the party’s upward trend.

According to polls, voters appreciate Jetten’s leadership and his “optimistic and constructive attitude”. GroenLinks-PvdA voters switched to Jetten in polls the day before the elections, because he would be “more realistic”, according to Ipsos I&O.

The possible new prime minister is also modest on Wednesday evening. Jetten calls D66, if it becomes the largest: “the smallest, largest party” ever. And he feels, as a candidate prime minister would say, the responsibility to stand up for “all Dutch people”. Also for those who did not vote for D66.

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