Election security

THE LAST DUTCH POPULIST WAS ASSASSINATED — AND STILL CAME IN SECOND

It was nine days before the general election, and a charismatic far-right leader was on course for a historic showing at the polls. Fifty-four-year-old Pim Fortuyn had been in electoral politics in the Netherlands for just six months, but he was drawing huge support from both the left and the right, as well as many who had never voted before. And then, while walking back to his car after a radio interview in a town near Amsterdam, the bald, besuited populist was shot six times and died at the scene.

Fortuyn’s assassination rocked the 2002 election — other candidates halted campaigning, riots broke out and conspiracy theories abounded. After it was decided that the election should continue, Fortuyn’s name had to remain on the ballots according to Dutch law. His party came in second, winning 26 seats in the House of Representatives, becoming part of a short-lived governing coalition. Headed by a dead man, the Pim Fortuyn List posted the best-ever performance by a novice party.