DUTCH VOTERS TAKE RIGHT TURN, OUST SOCIALIST COALITION

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- A fledgling party leader was poised to
become the Netherlands' prime minister Wednesday, after a dramatic shift to
the right in elections that swamped the governing socialists.

Wednesday's balloting marked a major defeat for Prime Minister Wim Kok's
liberal coalition. The group was credited with steady economic growth since
taking power in 1994, but was punished for ignoring growing concerns over
drugs, immigration, welfare and tax abuse.

In the swing to the right, the upstart party of slain anti-immigration
populist Pim Fortuyn -- Pim Fortuyn's List -- swept into the legislature
with 26 seats. A few months ago, the group did not exist.

With 88.6 percent of the vote counted, Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian
Democrats won 43 seats -- a gain of 15 in the 150-member parliament.

Kok's governing socialists were seen plunging from 45 seats to 23, and his
Liberal allies from 38 to 23, according to the results.

Balkenende, a 46-year-old Christian philosophy professor who took over the
the party just eight months ago, was likely to be the next prime minister.

Balkenende, sometimes called the Dutch Harry Potter because of his looks,
has voiced distaste with the Dutch policies allowing euthanasia, gay
marriages and tolerance of soft drugs. He declared he was "ready to take on
the responsibility" of forming a government.

Fortuyn brought those issues to the forefront, tapping into a groundswell
of discontent with Holland's ruling politicians and their tolerant policies.

He was killed May 6 after doing a campaign radio interview. He was 54. His
slaying shocked this country of 16 million that is a stranger to political
violence and has long prided itself on consensus politics.

The election results proved Fortuyn's party, the Christian Democrats and
their allies could marshal a comfortable parliamentary majority for a
right-wing government.

At the outset of voting, Kok told voters that his eight years at the helm
brought them "formidable" growth and prosperity. He said the elections "are
about my legacy."

In the end, they were more about the legacy of Fortuyn -- the openly gay,
ex-university professor who was a harsh critic of the government's
permissiveness of welfare abusers and tolerant asylum, drug and law
enforcement policies.

The secretary of the Labor Party, Ruud Koole, said it was the worst result
in the party's history. "This is a difficult day for Labor," he said.

Irreverent, charismatic and a dapper dresser, Fortuyn called for a halt to
immigration, a crackdown on crime and for throwing out what he called the
entrenched political elite.

At the chic Hotel des Indes, the faithful cheered as their huge success
became known. Hovering above the crowd was an enormous portrait of the
party's slain founder, whom leftist political opponents and news outlets
had called a racist and a fascist.

"I'm very moved that we are celebrating this without Pim," said Ferry
Hoogendijk, one of his followers who won a seat. "This was his work."