First major Dutch elections TV debate held with no one gaining decisive lead

The Netherlands saw the first major TV debate in election campaign on Sunday night in the presence of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, but no big gains achieved by any party of the debate.

Sunday's debate finished with no big surprise, being filled with only familiar differences and well-known positions of the parties.

But the presence of Rutte made it some different, especially after his withdrawal from a previous TV debate on Feb. 26.

Both Rutte and the leader of the right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV) Geert Wilders withdrew from the previous debate.

And Wilders did not show up at the Sunday night's debate at the Amsterdam Carre theatre.

But the theater saw the presence of the contestants from the other eight parties.

The eight party leaders discussed several subjects and had debates face to face.

Dutch culture protection and issues related to the European Union were among the debated topics.

After the TV debate, TV station RTL, which organized the debate, asked a viewers' panel about who it thought winning the debate. The result indicated that Jesse Klaver of the GroenLinks (GreenLeft) won with a narrow difference.

The fact that the debate failed to produce a clear winner underlined that the differences between the parties are very small, which was also indicated by other polls.

source: Xinhua