The party that has swept to the forefront of Dutch politics needs no symbol: instead, it has the face of founder Pieter Omtzigt gazing benevolently into the future.
At the first members’ meeting of the New Social Contract (NSC) party last week, 800 people had a name badge with a monochrome portrait of Omtzigt on the back. When their leader stood to give a 40-minute speech on a central dais, he was lit with blazing white light from above and the applause was rapturous. Clearly, it is Omtzigt’s personal charisma and profile as a prominent, occasionally troublesome, backbench MP that have propelled the three-month-old NSC to the top of polls a week before the Netherlands’ general election on Wednesday 22 November.
