Dutch PM held in high regard for handling of Ukraine flight disaster, poll shows

The first political poll in the Netherlands since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine last month shows overwhelming public support for the handling of the disaster's aftermath by prime minister Mark Rutte and his coalition government.

Although anger flared immediately after the crash at the government’s helplessness faced with bodies left uncovered in temperatures of 35 degrees and pro-Russian separatists searching personal belongings, the mood became more sombre as the dead began being flown home.

The poll shows that if an election was held tomorrow, Mr Rutte’s Liberals would win 27 seats in the 150-seat house, an increase of four, making them the largest party for the first time since March.

Tough line

Although Labour leader Diederik Samsom remains his party's environment spokesman and is not a minister, the junior coalition partners also gained from Mr Rutte's tough line with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, getting a boost of three seats, giving them a total of 14.

However, that total gives the Dutch Lib-Lab coalition just 41 seats between them – still a far cry from the September 2012 election in which the Liberals took 41 seats and Labour won a record 38, giving them a solid majority in parliament that is unusual in the Netherlands.

The government gains meant losses for the main opposition parties, with the centre-left D66, who performed well in the Euro elections, and the Christian Democrats down two seats each at 23 and 21 respectively. The Socialists and the Freedom Party also lost one each, now standing at 21 and 20.

As the Dutch death toll in the MH17 tragedy was revised upwards to 196 of the 298 passengers and crew, there were poignant scenes at Eindhoven airbase yesterday afternoon as a single coffin was flown home via the “air bridge” from Kharkiv in Ukraine – the first flight in more than a week.

Although it wasn’t confirmed, the single coffin may have contained 25 pieces of “DNA material” transferred to forensic investigators at the mortuary in Donetsk at the weekend, along with 27 “personal items” collected at the crash site.

Again, more than 250 relatives, two government ministers and a full guard of honour met the military flight. After the now-customary minute’s silence, the cortege was given a police escort to Hilversum, where the remains are being identified.

The MH17 investigation is now officially the largest criminal inquiry ever mounted in the Netherlands, involving 840 officers in all, the majority of them at home, confirmed Mr Rutte.

He said that in Ukraine, the assessment of mission leader, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, Amsterdam’s chief of police, was that it should “continue to work unarmed”.