DOUBLE DUTCH :

Black immigrant is new face of Pim Fortuyn List (Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, 09/05/2002, Daily Telegraph)

As if Pim Fortuyn had not done enough already to turn Dutch politics upside down, the standard bearer of his anti-immigration movement is now a black cosmetics executive from the Cape Verde isles.

Joao Varela, 27, is the new number one candidate on the Pim Fortuyn List. Under Holland's parliamentary tradition, Queen Beatrix may be required to invite him to form the next government should the party emerge as the biggest grouping in the elections next Wednesday.

Polls taken just before Mr Fortuyn's murder on Monday gave the party 17 per cent, narrowly behind the ruling Labour Party and the opposition Christian Democrats. Few dare
to predict how it will perform without its firebrand leader, who eclipsed the other 51 names on the List.

The property tycoon who bankrolled the movement, Harry Mens, has already called the List an "incompetent" assortment of amateurs who do not deserve a vote. Without Mr Fortuyn, the party was meaningless, he said, declaring that he would now switch to the Christian Democrats.

Are the Dutch deranged? It's as if Pat Buchanan was assassinated and we decided to elect Lenora Fulani out of sympathy. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 9, 2002 11:12 AM