Editing Pim Fortuyn List (section)

===Opposition and disintegration (2003–2006)===
In the [[2003 Dutch general election|January 2003 general election]], the LPF shrank to 5.7% support and gained eight seats while Balkenende and the CDA retained a majority.<ref name=ms/> Following the election the LPF was exchanged for the [[Democrats 66]] in the government coalition and never returned to government. The LPF found it hard to maintain support in parliamentary opposition as besides [[Joost Eerdmans]], most of its Members of Parliament were not very visible or considered as charismatic as Fortuyn, while party leader Herben had enough work keeping the party from further infighting. The LPF also went into financial straits as many of its former financial backers left. Other commentators later claimed that the relative inexperience of some of the LPF's members and lack of internal structure hampered its ability to function as a coherent movement.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/18/worlddispatch.thefarright |title=The end of List Pim Fortuyn |website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |date=18 October 2002 |access-date=29 June 2020}}</ref> As the new coalition continued most of the former coalition's policies and Balkenende stated that he agreed with some of Fortuyn's views on multiculturalism and implemented some of his policy ideas, it became increasingly difficult for the LPF to present the anti-establishment or alternative image to the government which had galvanized support for the party in the first place.<ref name=m213>{{harvnb|Mudde|2007|p=213}}</ref>

The LPF did see some success in the 2003 Dutch provincial elections in which it won 17 seats in eleven provinces, enabling it to qualify for a seat in the Senate during the [[2003 Dutch Senate election]] which was taken by [[Rob Hessing]]. However, the party was beset by further internal problems and won just 2.6% of the vote in the [[2004 European Parliament election in the Netherlands|2004 European Parliament election]], and did not win a seat. In this election, [[Paul van Buitenen]] surprisingly won two seats with his anti-corruption [[Europe Transparent]] (although it was not successful in the long term). By 2004, the LPF had fallen to a less than 1% support and disintegrated. The party had lost most of its members, and for a brief period the parliamentary faction (with exception of [[Wien van den Brink]]) had declared itself independent from the party while continuing to use the LPF name in the house. In 2005, a newly elected party board managed to put an end to many of the disputes within the LPF and got party organisation back in order. Herben also stepped back and handed over the faction chairmanship to [[Gerard van As]]. As a result, some LPF representatives rejoined the party. That same year, LPF minister and parliamentarian [[Hilbrand Nawijn]] held a meeting with [[Vlaams Belang]] politician [[Filip Dewinter]] in the former home of Fortuyn which caused uproar within the party since Fortuyn had stated he had wanted nothing to do with Dewinter's former [[Vlaams Blok]] party. Nawijn subsequently left the LPF and announced the formation of a new party with ideas closer to Vlaams Belang.<ref name=m213/>

In 2006, Van As announced his departure from the LPF to join Nawijn's [[Party for the Netherlands]]. A week after Van As' departure, [[Joost Eerdmans]] was expelled from the parliamentary faction after signalling his intention to join the [[EénNL]] party founded by [[Marco Pastors]] and was subsequently joined by other former LPF parliamentarians. In March 2006, the LPF decided to go ahead with contesting the [[2006 Dutch municipal elections]] and saw a relatively strong performance in the municipalities of [[Westland (municipality), Netherlands|Westland]], [[Spijkenisse]] and [[Eindhoven]] with the LPF receiving its first [[alderman]] in Westland.

[[File:Eduard Bomhoff 2006.jpg|thumb|right|220px|[[Eduard Bomhoff]], [[Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands|Deputy Prime Minister]] in the [[First Balkenende cabinet]].]]