DUTCH Prime Minister Mark Rutte took his bid for a third term to voters on Saturday, mingling with shoppers in a small market town ahead of closely-watched March elections. “The VVD makes the best coffee,” Rutte sang out, as he gathered people around a food truck handing out hot drinks to talk politics and promote his Liberal party’s policies.

After six years in power at the head of two coalition governments, Rutte is fending off a biting challenge from his far-right rival Geert Wilders in the March 15 elections. His party is running neck-and-neck with Wilders’s Freedom Party (PVV) in the race for control of the 150-seat lower house of parliament. Amid the rise of populist and far-right parties in Europe, the Dutch polls are being seen as a litmus test ahead of other elections this year, notably in France and Germany.

Dressed casually in jeans and a blue weatherproof jacket against the penetrating cold drizzle, Rutte patiently answered questions from curious shoppers in the tiny central town of Wormerveer and posed for selfies.

“We are living in very unstable and insecure times. My main task as prime minister is to keep this country safe and stable,” Rutte told AFP, among a small knot of journalists. “That means that we have to reorganise the European Union, make Nato work better for all of us, invest in our defence.”

But amid a polarising debate over immigration, he also argued the country’s 17 million people wanted to see The Netherlands defend its values. “For example on immigration, for refugees we will always have a warm welcome, but not too many please. We have to keep the numbers limited,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2017