According to outgoing Prime Minister and VVD leader Mark Rutte, his party lost many voters to Geert Wilders’ PVV in the campaign's last days because they wanted to prevent Frans Timmermans (GroenLinks-PvdA) from becoming Prime Minister. “They were afraid that the social democrats would win the election,” Rutte said in a conversation with students at the Hertie School of Governance during a visit to the German capital of Berlin.
One week before the parliamentary election, the leaders of the four largest parties in the polls - NSC, VVD, GroenLinks-PvdA, and PVV - debated migration, dental care, and healthcare in a debate on SBS6 on Wednesday. In a separate debate in The Hague, candidates of the VVD and CDA faced fire over the Netherlands still providing Israel with parts for their F-35 fighter jets used to bomb Gaza.