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AMSTERDAM - The Dutch Christian Democrats held on to power in a parliamentary election yesterday but faced a battle to form a coalition government as many voters turned to parties on the far left and far right.
Projections based on an almost complete vote count showed Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrats (CDA) winning 41 seats in the 150-seat Parliament, down from 44 in the 2003 election but far ahead of the Opposition Labour on 32.
The far left Socialists (SP) soared to third place ahead of the liberal VVD, Balkenende's coalition partner, making his job of forming a strong government much more difficult.
Balkenende rode to victory on an economic upturn in the past year. But who joins the next coalition will determine how closely he can stick to his business-friendly policies and tough line on immigration, long a major concern of Dutch voters.
The other big winner was the new party of anti-immigration maverick Geert Wilders, who says the Netherlands risks being flooded by Muslims and wants an immediate halt to new migrants.
"The result is complicated. It will be tough going. We now need determination and cool heads because voters in the Netherlands deserve social and solid policies for the future," Balkenende told cheering supporters.
Dutch politics has become much more unstable since the murder of anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn in 2002, with three elections in four years and last year's rejection of the European constitution, opposed by both Wilders and the SP.
Balkenende took power in 2002 in a coalition with Fortuyn's party that came second after their leader was killed. But that government collapsed after just 87 days, prompting a new vote in 2003 that took five months to produce a new coalition.
- REUTERS
