The Labour party’s decision to pull out of the government following deep divisions over the Dutch mission in Afghanistan has boosted the party’s fortunes in a new opinion poll by Maurice de Hond.

If there was an election tomorrow, Labour would now take 19 seats, four more than its tally a week ago. The Christian Democrats popularity is down one seat at 26 – but the CDA would still be the biggest party in parliament.
However, 21% of all voters would like Bos to be the next prime minister and only 16% want to see Balkenende back at the helm. Balkenende only has the support of 36% of CDA voters.
Elections
The De Hond poll shows that very little separates the main parties at the start of the general election campaign and ahead of the local vote on March 3.
Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration PVV would take 24 seats in the De Hond poll, down one on a week ago.
The poll puts the two Liberal parties VVD and D66 on 23 and 20 seats respectively.
This means a new coalition government will may well need to be an alliance between four different parties.
Meanwhile, a poll of 12,000 people for tv programme EenVandaag shows 62% of the population think the collapse of the government is a good thing. Some 37% blame the CDA for the collapse and 29% Labour.
Was Labour right to pull out of the government? Take part in our poll