Power vacuum in Dutch politics as Cohen resigns

The leader of the Dutch opposition Labour Party, which has provided crucial support for the minority government on eurozone bailouts, has resigned from the post citing “insufficient success” in communicating his political vision.

Job Cohen, 63, leader of the biggest opposition party in parliament for less than two years, said he had quit the role and given up his seat in parliament.

Mr Cohen is best known as Amsterdam’s mayor through most of the 2000s, where he led the city through a period of ethnic tension after filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim radical in 2004.

He also officiated over the world’s first legal gay marriages in 2001.

Mr Cohen led Labour in the 2010 national election, losing by one seat to prime minister Mark Rutte’s pro-business VVD party. Mr Rutte formed an all-conservative Cabinet focused on austerity and anti-immigration policies.

Mr Cohen’s departure creates another leadership vacuum in the centre of the Dutch political spectrum – both Labour and the Christian Democrats, two of the establishment parties, are now without anyone in the top job.