Dechristianizing the Christian Party

Multiculturalism does not sell well

In an article on this blog last week I stated that the:

.. PVV .. is becoming the premier rightwing party.

At this point in time one of the rightwing electoral rivals of the Freedom Party (PVV), the Christian Democrats (CDA) are reconsidering their strategy recommendation with a view to winning back a voting base that will ensure their power. The problem for the Christian Democrats is that they received 21 seats in the 150 parliament in the latest election, while they are used to receiving a bit less than a third of the votes, with around 45 seats. The voting base of the Christian Democrats has been diminishing since the 1960ies, due to secularisation. And this is made more acute by the appearing of a rightwing competitior, the PVV in a time of doubts over the viability of the multicultural society that has beeen foisted on the unexpecting electorate by the political elite.

Inclusiveness is the answer

The answer according to CDA prominent Mr. Bert Ramakers is to broaden their ideological foundation. That means stopping to be a typical Christian-Democratic party (Dutch) and to appeal to adherents of other religions, primerily Muslims. It is not surprising that Mr. Ramakers takes this view. Inclusiveness is the only option permitted in the multicultural society. And on a first glance it makes sense too. Immigrants are a growing portion of the population, so if the Christian-Democrats appeal to this base they can win votes there.

The fruits of inclusiveness

However, the question is, is it really all that easy. Labour (PvdA) has appealled succesfully to immigrant voters for a long time. They have a headstart on the Christian Democrats. And attracting immigrants is a mixed blessing. The PvdA is shedding ethnic Dutch voters faster than they can win immigrants. The voter base of the CDA is more averse to a pro-muslim program than the Labour base and they will desert the party to rally to the PVV. So the Christian Democrats are damned if the do and damned if they don't.

The Rest

And this is half of the reason why the PVV has the potential to become the premier rightwing party in The Netherlands. The other half concerns the other rightwing competitior of the PVV, the right-liberal VVD.