Nuclear questions played a key role in the most widely watched Dutch election in years. During the campaign, Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers eased his stance on atomic power.

$ Chernobyl. In little more than a month, the name of a once obscure Soviet plant has become a global household word, a new entry on the list of late-20th century technological disasters and a rallying cry for all those who fear and oppose nuclear power. The April 26 explosion…

Kabouters, or Pixies, led by ex-provo leader Roel van Duijn, won several seats in city council elections throughout The Netherlands last week.

I IKE other Western capitals, Amsterdam has had its quota of student barricades, tear gas volleys and police baton charges. The youthful protesters, who used to be known as Provos (for provocateurs), rioted over almost everything from Crown Princess Beatrix’s lavish wedding in 1966, when they tossed smoke bombs at…

A band of Dutchmen formed a group trying to influence U.S. votes in the upcoming elections. “The U.S. President meddles in our affairs. We should meddle in his,” says the organizer.

THE NETHERLANDS

By all accounts there are plenty of Americans who have decided not to vote at all in next month’s presidential election — and lots of others who wish they did not feel that they have to. Across the Atlantic, however, there is a band of Dutchmen who would like…

For the first time in The Netherlands’ history, the Socialists became the leading party. Vadertje (Little Father) Drees party got 29% of 5,335,064 votes cast.

Willem Drees is the kind of Socialist the Reds denounce as a “Sewer Socialist.” They are right in a way, for Drees would rather give his people sewers today than promise a proletarian heaven in 1984. Starting 39 years ago as a Socialist councilman in The Hague, Drees ascended the…

In last week’s first postwar Dutch election things were different. The Party of Labor, cutting across religious lines, won 29 out of a 100 seats.

A prewar Dutch election was usually a cut-&-dried affair; the Catholics voted for the Catholic party, the Protestants voted for one of the two big Protestant parties, minor groups shared scattered votes, and that was that.

In last week’s first postwar Dutch election, things were different. Premier Schermerhorn’s new Party…

Premier Colijn saw his coalition was still rocksteady with a 58% majority in the latest provincial elections, but other Dutch parties had lost to Mussert some 8% of the vote.

The living Sphinx of the Netherlands, crop-haired, eagle-beaked Premier Hendrik Colijn has brought Her Majesty’s Government unscathed through Communist brickbat assaults and the worst of Depression only to face last week the “Dutch Nazis.” For stanch old Dr. Colijn it was exquisitely embarrassing to have to explain to his strong-minded…