centrist

D66 party says no time to waste as begins challenge of finding three coalition partners on fractious centre-ground.

Dutch centrist leader Rob Jetten has claimed victory in a cliffhanger election dominated by immigration and housing after seeing off far-right contender Geert Wilders, saying his win proved populism can be beaten.

The 38-year-old head of the D66 party, which won the most votes in this week’s general election, is now set to become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister of the European Union’s fifth-largest economy.

“I think we’ve now shown to the rest of Europe and the world that it is possible to beat the populist movements if you campaign with a positive message for your country,” he said on Friday, as tallying from news agency ANP showed he was on course to win.

The pro-EU, liberal D66 tripled its seat count with an upbeat campaign and a surge in advertising spending, while Wilders and his PVV Freedom Party lost a large part of the support that had propelled him to a shock victory at the previous poll in 2023.

D66, which currently has 26 seats but could gain one more when every vote is counted, is now expected to lead talks to form a coalition government, a process that usually takes months.

The party will need to find at least three coalition partners to reach a simple majority in the 150-seat lower chamber of parliament, with the centre-right CDA (18 seats), the liberal VVD (22) and the left-wing Green/Labour group (20) viewed as contenders.

But there are questions about whether the VVD and Green/Labour will work together. VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz said before the election an alliance with Green/Labour “would not work” and she wanted a centre-right coalition.

On Monday, the Green/Labour group will elect a new leader after former EU Vice President Frans Timmermans stepped down.

On Friday, Jetten urged mainstream parties from the left to the right to unite. “We want to find a majority that will eagerly work on issues such as the housing market, migration, climate and the economy,” he said.

‘Serious challenges’

Reporting from Amsterdam, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen said Jetten faced “serious challenges” as informal coalition talks got under way, given that his party holds a razor-thin lead of only thousands of votes over Wilders and his PVV Freedom Party.

Jetten, an enthusiastic athlete who once ran as a pacemaker to Olympic champion Sifan Hassan, had said there was no time to waste “because the Dutch people are asking us to get to work”.

Wilders said Jetten was jumping the gun, pointing out that the results would only become official once the Electoral Council, rather than ANP – which collects the results from all municipalities in the Netherlands – had decided.

“How arrogant not to wait,” he wrote on X.

Although all mainstream parties had already ruled out working with him, Wilders had said he would demand to have a first crack at forming a coalition if his party was confirmed to have the most votes.

Although he saw support collapse, other far-right parties like the Forum for Democracy (FvD), a nationalist party that wants to withdraw from the EU’s Schengen system of open borders, performed well.

Confirmation of the result will come on Monday, when mail ballots cast by Dutch residents living abroad are counted.

Party leaders will discuss the next steps on Tuesday.

A prominent lawmaker in the United States has announced he will return donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), highlighting the powerful pro-Israel lobby group’s waning appeal among Democrats.

Congressman Seth Moulton distanced himself from AIPAC on Thursday, citing the group’s support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Moulton is slated to challenge progressive Senator Ed Markey in next year’s Democratic primaries, ahead of the midterm elections.

The move by Moulton, a centrist and strong supporter of Israel, shows that backing from AIPAC is increasingly becoming a political liability for Democrats after the horrors Israel has unleashed on Gaza.

“In recent years, AIPAC has aligned itself too closely with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government,” Moulton said in a statement.

“I’m a friend of Israel, but not of its current government, and AIPAC’s mission today is to back that government. I don’t support that direction. That’s why I’ve decided to return the donations I’ve received, and I will not be accepting their support.”

For decades, Israel has leveraged its political connections and network of wealthy donors to push for unconditional support for its policies.

In 2022, AIPAC organised a political action committee (PAC) to exert sway in US elections, mostly using its financial might to help defeat progressive candidates critical of Israel in Democratic primaries.

Last year, the group helped oust two vocal critics of Israel in Congress – Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush – by backing their primary challengers with tens of millions of dollars.

I am returning AIPAC donations and refusing to accept any donations or support from them.

The FEC filing I made yesterday reflects that we are returning donations. pic.twitter.com/shBgHmYB1s

— Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) October 16, 2025

Increased scrutiny

But Israel’s war on Gaza has led to an outpouring of criticisms, with leading rights groups and United Nations investigators calling it a genocide.

In light of that outcry, AIPAC’s role in US politics has come under greater scrutiny, particularly in Democratic circles where support for Israel has slipped to historic lows.

Moreover, AIPAC has endorsed far-right candidates like Congressman Randy Fine – who celebrated the killing of a US citizen by Israel and openly called for starving Palestinians in Gaza – which further alienated some Democrats.

AIPAC’s critics often liken it to the National Rifle Association (NRA), the once-bipartisan gun rights lobby that Democrats now reject nearly universally.

Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for the progressive group Justice Democrats, said AIPAC and its affiliates “are transforming from a lobby that establishment Democrats could rely on to buy a seat in Washington into a kiss of death for candidates who have their support”.

“Our movement’s work to demand the Democratic Party reject AIPAC as a toxic pariah is not only working but ensuring that the pro-genocide Israel lobby’s influence in Washington is waning,” Andrabi told Al Jazeera.

Even on the right of the ideological spectrum, some figures in President Donald Trump’s “America First” movement have been critical of AIPAC’s outsized influence.

In August, the lobby group accused right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of betraying “American values” over her criticism of Israel.

Greene shot back, saying that AIPAC serves the interests of a foreign government. “I’m as AMERICAN as they come! I can’t be bought and I’m not backing down,” she wrote in a social media post.

AIPAC is expected to target some key races in next year’s midterm elections, including the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, where progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing off against staunch Israel supporter Haley Stevens.

In 2022, the lobby group helped Stevens defeat then-Congressman Andy Levin, who hails from a prominent Michigan Jewish family, in a House primary.

While it is one of the better-known lobby groups in the US, AIPAC is among dozens of pro-Israel advocacy organisations across the country, including some that also raise funds for candidates, such as NORPAC.

Throughout the assault on Gaza, AIPAC echoed the falsehood that there is no Israeli-imposed famine in the territory and defended the Israeli military’s genocidal conduct while calling for more US aid to the country.

AIPAC argues that it is a thoroughly American organisation with 100 percent of its funding coming from inside the US. It denies taking direction from Israel.

But the lobby group is almost always in full alignment with the Israeli government.

AIPAC members also often meet with Israeli leaders. The group also organises free trips for US lawmakers to travel to Israel and meet with Israeli officials.

‘It’s interesting’

The pro-Israel group’s unflinching support for Netanyahu’s government puts it at odds with the overwhelming majority of Democrats.

A poll this month from the Pew Research Center showed only 18 percent of Democratic respondents have favourable views of the Israeli government.

Still, Democratic Party leaders have continued to associate with AIPAC and accept its endorsement. In August, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar joined lawmakers on an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel.

That same month, AIPAC-endorsed House Minority Whip Katherine Clark earned the group’s praise after walking back comments where she decried the “starvation and genocide and destruction of Gaza”.

California Governor Gavin Newsom – who is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028 – also skirted a question about AIPAC in an interview this week.

Asked about the organisation on the Higher Learning podcast, Newsom said AIPAC is not relevant to his day-to-day life.

“I haven’t thought about AIPAC, and it’s interesting. You’re like the first to bring up AIPAC in years, which is interesting,” he said.

In response to Moulton’s comments on Thursday, AIPAC issued a defiant statement, accusing the Democrat of “abandoning his friends to grab a headline”.

“His statement comes after years of him repeatedly asking for our endorsement and is a clear message to AIPAC members in Massachusetts, and millions of pro-Israel Democrats nationwide, that he rejects their support and will not stand with them,” the group said in a social media post.

Early results showed centrist Rodrigo Paz take the lead, with 32.8 percent of the vote, in surprise outcome.

Bolivia is heading to a presidential run-off between a centrist and right-wing candidate, confirming the end of two decades of government by the Movement for Socialism (MAS), according to the South American country’s electoral council.

With more than 91 percent of the ballots counted on Sunday night, preliminary results showed centrist Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) in the lead, with 32.8 percent of the vote.

Conservative former interim President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, of the Alianza Libre coalition, was in second place, with 26.4 percent of the vote, meaning he will face Paz, the son of former left-leaning President Jaime Paz, in a run-off election on October 19.

Candidates needed to surpass 50 percent, or 40 percent with a 10-point margin of victory, to avoid a run-off.

Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor Lucia Newman, reporting from Bolivia’s Santa Cruz de la Sierra, said the early results confirmed that MAS, which has governed the country since 2005, is “out of the picture”.

But the “biggest surprise”, Newman said, is “that the frontrunner is none other than somebody who was polling between fourth and fifth place up until now”.

Paz is “more to the centre” than his father, Newman added.

Eight presidential candidates were in the running in Sunday’s presidential election – from the far-right to the political left.

Pre-election polls had shown Samuel Doria Medina, a wealthy businessman and former planning minister, as one of two frontrunners alongside Quiroga, who served as interim president and vice president under former military leader President Hugo Banzer.

Former leftist President Evo Morales was barred from running, and the outgoing socialist President Luis Arce, who had fallen out with Morales, opted out of the race.

The division within their leftist coalition, along with the country’s deep economic crisis, meant few expected MAS to return to power.

Official results are due within seven days. Voters will also elect all 26 senators and 130 deputies, and officials assume office on November 8.

Spiralling inflation

The Andean country has been struggling through its worst economic crisis in a generation, marked by annual inflation of almost 25 percent and critical shortages of US dollars and fuel.

Bolivians repeatedly took to the streets to protest rocketing prices and hours-long waits for fuel, bread and other basics in the lead-up to Sunday’s election.

Bolivia enjoyed more than a decade of strong growth and Indigenous upliftment under Morales, who nationalised the gas sector and ploughed the proceeds into social programmes that halved extreme poverty during his stint in power between 2006 and 2019.

But a lack of new gas projects under Morales, who was outspoken on environmental issues and climate change, has seen gas revenues plummet from a peak of $6.1bn in 2013 to $1.6bn last year.

With the country’s other major resource, lithium, still underground, the government has nearly run out of the foreign exchange needed to import fuel, wheat and other foodstuffs.

May 19 (UPI) — The Pro-European Union centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, has claimed victory in Romania’s presidential run-off election over far-right nationalist candidate George Simion, who has conceded defeat.

According to official results, Dan, an independent, won 54.22% of the vote compared to Simion, of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, who secured 45.78% of the vote.

“It was an unprecedented mobilization, and that is why the victory belongs to each and every one of you,” Dan said in a statement on X.

“To every Romanian who went out to vote, made their voice heard and thus fought for what they believe in, for the country they want and wish to live in. Starting tomorrow, we begin the reconstruction of Romania — a united, HONEST Romania, based on respect for the law and for all people.”

Simion vowed, also on X, to “continue our fight for freedom and our great values along with other patriots, sovereignists and conservatives all over the world.”

“We may have lost a battle, but we will certainly not lose the war.”

According to Romania’s Permanent Electoral Authority, nearly 55.6% of all registered voters cast ballots in the contest.

Dan’s victory on Sunday comes after Simion was declared the winner of the first round early this month, with nearly 41% of the vote. The run-off election was necessitated as he fell short of the 50% majority needed to win outright.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine congratulated Dan in a statement on X.

“For Ukraine — as a neighbor and friend — it is important to have Romania as a reliable partner,” Zelensky said. “And we are confident we will. By working together, we can strengthen both our countries and our Europe.”

The election comes after a run-off between the pro-Russian nationalist, Calin Georgescu, and centrist Elena Lasconi was canceled in November, just days before ballots were to be cast, over Russia attempting to influence the outcome in Georgescu’s favor.

Online on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania warned of a vile disinformation campaign on Telegram, specifically concerning NATO forces in the country in connection with the election.

“Any attempt to associate the activity of the allied forces on the national territory with the political electoral context in Romania constitutes a form of distortion of the truth,” it said on Facebook, calling the posts “fake news.”

The ruling party’s pro-European Union candidate and a right-wing nationalist are set for a decisive second-round showdown on June 1.

Rafal Trzaskowski from Poland’s ruling centrist Civic Coalition (KO) is narrowly ahead of Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, in the first round of the country’s presidential election.

It sets up a close battle to determine if the nation stays on a pro-European path or leans closer to admirers of United States President Donald Trump.

On Sunday, Trzaskowski, the liberal Warsaw Mayor, placed first with 30.8 percent of the vote, ahead of Nawrocki, a conservative historian, who had 29.1 percent, the Ipsos exit poll showed. If confirmed, the result would mean the two will go head-to-head in a run-off vote on June 1.

“We are going for victory. I said that it would be close, and it is close,” Trzaskowski told supporters. “There is a lot, a lot, of work ahead of us and we need determination.”

Nawrocki also told supporters he was confident of victory in the second round.

The campaign has largely revolved around foreign policy at a time of heightened security concerns in Poland, a key member of NATO and the European Union bordering war-torn Ukraine, and fears that the US’s commitment to European security could be wavering in the Trump era.

Commenting on X, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has forged a pro-European track, said the next two weeks will decide the future of Poland.

In Poland, the president has the power to veto laws. A Trzaskowski victory in the second round would enable Tusk’s government to implement an agenda that includes rolling back judicial reforms introduced by PiS that critics say undermined the independence of the courts.

However, if Nawrocki wins, the impasse that has existed since Tusk became prime minister in 2023 would be set to continue. Until now, PiS-ally President Andrzej Duda has stymied Tusk’s efforts.

If the exit poll is confirmed, other candidates in the first round – including Slawomir Mentzen from the far-right Confederation Party, Parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia of the centre-right Poland 2050, and Magdalena Biejat from the Left – will be eliminated.

Two updated polls that take into account partial official results will be published later Sunday evening and early on Monday morning

Trzaskowski has pledged to cement Poland’s role as a major player at the heart of Europe in contrast with PiS, which was frequently at odds with Brussels over rule-of-law concerns.

Social issues have also been a major theme on the campaign trail, with Nawrocki framing himself as a guardian of conservative values and Trzaskowski drawing support from liberal voters for his pledges to back abortion and LGBTQ rights.