'It is possible!' – D66 celebrates its biggest victory ever in ecstasy

All evening, Dutch flags—and a few European ones—have been fluttering throughout the hall of the Nobel pop venue in Leiden, where the D66 party is celebrating election night. As soon as the NOS cameras roll, they pan from left to right.

But when the first Ipsos exit poll appears at nine o'clock, revealing that D66 has achieved the biggest victory in party history, the room truly explodes with enthusiasm. The seven hundred members jump, cheer, and wave flags. Fists rise in the air. "It's possible! It's possible!" echoes through the room.

According to forecasts, D66 will not only achieve the biggest gain, but also the highest number of seats ever. And as the battle rages on, this feeling is increasingly felt by those present – ​​from the floor to the two-story balconies. There are tears, hugs, and beer-throwing parties.

Around 10:30 p.m., Rob Jetten (38) makes his way through a frenzied hall, beaming, fist in the air, as Fluitsma & Van Tijn's "15 Million People" blares from the speakers. The crowd shouts the campaign slogan again. Jetten: "We did it! The best result D66 has ever achieved, and we might just be the biggest party in the country!"

To tempt

If Jetten does indeed emerge as the largest party after the votes are counted, he will be given the initiative to form a new coalition on Friday. Two logical options seem to be available based on the forecast: a coalition down the middle with GroenLinks-PvdA, CDA, and VVD; or a coalition down the right with VVD, CDA, and JA21.

He won't be tempted to make any pronouncements about who he'd most like to form a coalition with when he speaks to the press Wednesday evening. He wants to think about it first. He emphasizes, first and foremost, that "the positive forces" won many seats. "Millions of Dutch people have turned the page today. They have said goodbye to negativity, hatred—it's unacceptable. They chose positive forces."

Jetten stood at the congress in front of a waving Dutch flag, which he wanted to reclaim from the radical right

He calls the VVD, GroenLinks-PvdA, and CDA positive forces. But he also says he's not ruling out JA21, a position he hasn't been doing throughout the campaign.

For a long time, D66 MPs (and candidates) hesitated to predict how many seats the party needed to achieve Jetten's stated goal of attracting a large number of centrist voters to D66 for the first time, or again. Fifteen seats—for some, that was a long-held dream. The nine seats D66 won in 2023 were a heavy blow. In 2021, with then-party leader Sigrid Kaag, they won 24 seats.

But since the fall of the cabinet in June, a strict campaign has been conducted, on which no other party spent as much money as D66: more than 2 million euros, according to the website Politieke Reclame.

Optimistic

The social liberals have long presented themselves as a more centrist party in their communications. At the congress in early October, for example, Jetten stood in front of a waving Dutch flag, which he wanted to reclaim from the radical right. The D66 leader also consistently maintained an optimistic narrative throughout the campaign, using the construction of ten new cities as a metaphor for daring to dream (again).

D66 was also lucky. Because Geert Wilders didn't attend the first RTL debate on October 12th due to threats, Jetten was able to join. And he made a good impression. Since then, say D66 members in the audience in Leiden, things have really taken off.

Jetten made a misstep in the final week of the campaign by starting a conversation about Princess Amalia, who is serving as a reservist. During the EenVandaag debate, he said the "guys" in the audience would probably find it tempting to serve with her. He later retracted this: perhaps a bit too blunt. It didn't detract from the party's upward momentum.

According to polls, voters value Jetten's leadership and his "optimistic and constructive attitude." GroenLinks-PvdA voters switched to Jetten in polls conducted the day before the election, believing him to be "more realistic," according to Ipsos I&O.

The potential new prime minister is also modest on Wednesday evening. Jetten calls D66, if it becomes the largest party, "the smallest, largest party" ever. And he feels, as a candidate prime minister would say, a responsibility to stand up for "all Dutch people." Even those who didn't vote for D66.