Dutch elections to go ahead

Fortuyn claimed the Netherlands was 'full' of ethnic minorities

The Netherlands remains is a state of stunned stasis after the murder of the right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn.

A white 36-year-old Dutch citizen has been arrested on suspicion of the murder, but there is little new emerging about his motives, and whether they were political or not.

The death throws into chaos the elections planned for eight days' time, at which Mr Fortuyn's party was expected to do well and possibly even become the opposition or part of the coalition government.

After a meeting this morning the out-going Dutch Prime Minister, Wim Kok, decided against cancelling the forthcoming elections, scheduled for 15 May.

The issues

Describing Fortuyn as a right-wing politician is to over-simplify. By pigeon-holing him and his like as "extreme right", is it that we are trying to evade the issues which Fortuyn raised?

We spoke to Stephen Pollard, senior fellow of the Centre for the New Europe and Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, about the issues over which Mr Fortuyn may have lost his life.