Bee Renze Around midnight on Sunday, three journalists and one former spin doctor were ready RTL The elections; the debate to fillet. I prefer to follow the rules of the game Ranking the talent, Johnny de Mol’s new program on Saturday evening. Not experts, but ‘ordinary’ Dutch people determine the favorite. The leading parties of the major parties had barely left the debate stage when RTL opinion pollster Gijs Rademaker was able to report which leading party 12,000 viewers had gotten to know best through the debate. Almost half (46 percent) mentioned Pieter Omtzigt (NSC). Then came VVD party leader Dilan Yesilgöz (33 percent) and at the bottom with 23 percent was Frans Timmermans (GroenLinks-PvdA). Not a real one ranking so, no winner or a favorite. Omtzigt has not won the debate, he has well to let you know the best.
How? Well, for starters, by keeping a straight face, again. “I am ready,” was the first thing Yesilgöz said when asked whether she was prepared to lead the country. Timmermans also saw himself sitting in the turret. Only Omtzigt did not want to answer the willingness question with yes or no. After which debate leader Fons Lambie asked whether his hesitation was motivated by doubt or by strategy. And then Omtzigt was able to say that he had doubts. A doubting leader, now that is a daring strategy.
Four themes were presented in four rounds: social security, housing market, migration and climate. Each round concluded with a four-minute one-on-one debate. Each party leader was allowed to choose an opponent. Timmermans challenged Omtzigt and demonstrated how to ask a question while allowing yourself to speak for as long as possible. The subject of social security was repeated again. Omtzigt rattled off his lesson (gas prices down), but he might as well have said nothing, because Timmermans concluded that Omtzigt did not want what GroenLinks-PvdA does want and that was “a great shame.”
Yesilgöz also chose Omtzigt in the debate round, who then joked that he was never chosen so often in gymnastics. She praised Omtzigt, the econometrician and his love for numbers. Wasn’t it strange, she said, that he did not let his plans be calculated. She called his election manifesto a “menu without prices.” Omtzigt said he precisely knew what his plans were about costs, but no, he could not provide the list of pluses and minuses she requested next Wednesday. And Yesilgöz found that “a real shame.”
Body and mind
What was also a shame was that Omtzigt chose the wrong questioner. Four well-known Dutch people had asked the future leader of the Netherlands a question in advance. Yesilgöz had the first choice, she took the question from master baker Robèrt van Beckhoven. Had she ever made a mistake as a politician? Of course, she laughed. “I am not a robot.” Maybe not her, but Omtzigt sometimes had a way of repeating his points. His only one error was the jargon that blurted out – spending review, extraterritorial arrangement – and the deluge of numbers.
Omtzigt chose Gregory Sedoc as the questioner. The former top athlete explained how he keeps his “body and mind” fit. Eating well, going to the gym four times a week, 10,000 steps a day. Being Prime Minister is also top sport, he said. “What would you do as Prime Minister to keep your body and mind fit?” Omtzigt had to laugh about it himself. The man who recovered from a burnout and perhaps therefore doubts whether he should become prime minister, stated that he is “top fit”. He goes to the gym, is a football referee, walks to the station every day, takes time to rest and skips a debate if necessary. And whether we got to know him.