Fortuyn looms as Dutch polls open

Fortuyn's death has provided his fledgling party with unexpected support

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands -- Dutch voters are heading to the polls in what is seen as the most unpredictable election in the country in decades following the murder of a prominent political leader.

Opinion polls show the party of slain populist Pim Fortuyn picking up support at the expense of caretaker Prime Minister Wim Kok's ruling Labour party.

The first major opinion poll since Fortuyn's death has predicted his fledgling party would trail only the opposition Christian Democrats (CDA) in the new parliament.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Dutch police arrest a suspect over the Fortuyn killing. CNN's Robin Oakley reports (May 7) Play video   YOUR SAY • Reaction: 'Bigger impact than Sept. 11'    EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: Netherlands Decides 2002    MORE STORIES • Dutch election on despite murder  • Politicians lament Fortuyn's death  • Profile: Fortuyn - Man of paradox  • TIMELINE: Recent killings of politicians     QUICKVOTE Can Pim Fortuyn's death propel his party into government? Yes No View Results

Voting opened at some 10,000 polling stations at 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) Wednesday and will continue until 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) for the 150-seat Second Chamber, the policymaking body of parliament.

About 12 million people are eligible to vote, and turnout is historically between 73 and 80 percent.

An exit poll of about 40,000 voters will be released moments after the polls close on the state-financed NOS television station, and enough actual results should be available within three hours to indicate the final outcome.

Official campaigning was stopped after Fortuyn was shot dead May 6 in the car park of a broadcasting station following a radio interview.

But political posturing has gradually resumed since the ex-professor was buried on Friday amid mass grief unprecedented in the Netherlands.

The Dutch political climate cooled on Tuesday as the centre-left government steeled itself for an election battering by Fortuyn's three-month-old Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party.

Mainstream politicians, who had sustained constant attacks by the anti-immigration maverick and were then hit by public outrage over his killing, have since been rocked by threats of legal action and poll predictions of a left-wing rout.

In full-page newspaper advertisements on Tuesday, the LPF said: "The Pim Fortuyn List is deeply moved by the mass mourning of the Dutch people after Pim's death.

"Your overwhelming support gives us the strength to pursue and execute Pim's ideas."

Fortuyn's lawyers have launched legal action against several journalists and three politicians from the parties that make up the three-way ruling coalition for allegedly inciting hatred of the openly gay Fortuyn, 54.

Lawyers Gerard Spong and Oscar Hammerstein said Fortuyn -- who opposed new immigration, called Islam backward and advocated "zero tolerance" of crime -- had asked them to investigate if anything were to happen to him.

Fortuyn had accused established politicians of "demonising" him by evoking far-rightwingers like France's Jean-Marie Le Pen and Austrian Joerg Haider, or mentioning him in the same breath as Anne Frank, the Jewish girl killed by the Nazis after keeping her now-famous diary while in hiding in Amsterdam.

The CDA, ousted from government in 1994 for the first time in over seven decades, would grab 20.5 percent versus the 18.4 percent it holds now, according to the survey released by the NIPO research bureau for the 2Vandaag TV programme.

Prime Minister Wim Kok's Labour Party (PvdA), which dominates the current coalition, is forecast to see its support almost halve to about 16.5 percent.

It means the LPF is 2 percentage points behind the main opposition Christian Democrats and 2 points ahead of Labour. The poll of 3,000 people has a margin of error of 1.3 percent.

LPF -- whose candidates include a former beauty queen, a pig farmer and a television presenter -- chose businessman Peter Langendam as its new chairman at the weekend, but will only select a new leader after the election.

Langendam has accused leftist parties of stirring up anti-Fortuyn sentiment that he says helped pave the way for the murder.

"The bullet came from the left, not from the right," Langendam told newspaper Het Parool, accusing politicians of weeping "crocodile tears" over Fortuyn's death.

An enraged Kok said Langendam had overstepped the mark.

He said: "A shiver went down my spine when I read that. ... It is appalling that Langendam pours oil upon the fire in this way."