[8][9][1] The LPF supported tougher measures against immigration and crime, opposition to multiculturalism, greater political reform, a reduction in state bureaucracy and was eurosceptic but differed somewhat from other European right-wing or nationalist parties by taking a liberal stance on certain social issues and sought to describe its ideology as pragmatic and not populistic.

Although he was already in contact with the Livable Netherlands (LN) party, he initially also considered running for the Christian Democratic Appeal (for whom he had briefly worked as an advisor) or creating his own list.

Helped by the many speeches and interviews given by Fortuyn, immigration issues became the major topic of the national political agenda, thereby forcing other parties to react.

Against the strong advice of his campaign team, he made several controversial statements; including one that said Islam was "a backward culture", that no more asylum seekers would be allowed into the country, and, if necessary, the possible repeal of anti-racism clauses in the Dutch Constitution to protect freedom of speech.

He began assembling candidates to stand in the upcoming general election,[13] secured financial backing from several individuals involved in the property development sector and was allocated an office and campaign headquarters in downtown Rotterdam.

Others included former editor of Elsevier Ferry Hoogendijk, ex-drafts champion Harm Wiersma, civil servant Joost Eerdmans, Surinamese broadcaster Philomena Bijlhout, counter-terrorism officer André Peperkoorn, spokesman for farmers Wien van den Brink and spokeswoman for the Central Bureau of Food Trade Winny de Jong.

In various interviews, including with the BBC and Jensen!, Fortuyn expressed a concern that he would be killed or injured during the election campaign, and argued that if such an event were to happen, the media and Dutch political establishment would be to blame through creating a hostile atmosphere against him.

[14][24] His funeral was broadcast live on television and, according to Cas Mudde, lead "to scenes of mass hysteria not seen since the Netherlands national football team won the European Championship in 1988.

"[14] The murder of Fortuyn, together with that of Theo van Gogh two years later, would result in a polarisation in the political debate in the Netherlands, and subsequently changes in immigration-related policies and public discourse.

[24] Balkenende had earlier announced that his party would follow a tougher line towards asylum seekers and tighten some of the Netherlands's immigration policies, and he later agreed with much of Fortuyn's criticism of the purple coalition and Holland's multicultural society.

[28] The following day after the cabinet's formation, LPF State Secretary for Social Affairs and Work Opportunity Philomena Bijlhout resigned after it was reported that she had been a member of a Surinamese militia.

Without its original leader and lack of a clearly defined organisational structure and political experience among its members, the LPF also succumbed to highly public internal squabbles.

MPs within the LPF resigned to sit as independents due to the infighting and the intense media storm following Fortuyn's death or unsuccessfully tried founding splinter parties of their own to contest in the next election.

Wijnschenk was subsequently ousted from his position and replaced by Herben again, but by October 2002, the break-up of the government coalition was ultimately triggered by the bickering of LPF Ministers Eduard Bomhoff and Herman Heinsbroek.

On 25 September 2006, the party released a controversial campaign commercial which featured new leader Olaf Stuger coming down from "heaven" with a parachute and presenting himself as a "reincarnation" of Pim Fortuyn.

[39] Some scholars and political scientists observed that the LPF presented a distinct ideology that differed from other populist parties in Europe while Fortuyn himself maintained that both he and the party based their beliefs on pragmatic, not populistic ideas and wanted the LPF to represent an alternative set of policy solutions to what Fortuyn regarded as an identical consensus within the existing Dutch political establishment.

[43] Comparisons were drawn between Fortuyn and the LPF with far-right populist leaders and parties in Europe such as Jean-Marie Le Pen and his French National Front by foreign journalists and these were often referred to by the Dutch media and rival politicians.

However, this was strongly disputed by Fortuyn who stated he wanted nothing to do with such leaders while the LPF called the comparisons "over-simplified" and inaccurate, asserting that the party's immigration programme was not based on hatred of foreigners.

On the contrary, Fortuyn wanted to protect the socio-culturally liberal values of the Netherlands, women's rights and sexual minorities (he was openly homosexual himself), from the "backward" Islamic culture.

The LPF also won support from some ethnic minorities and fielded candidates from immigrant backgrounds during the 2002 election; one of Fortuyn's closest associates was of Cape Verdean origin while one of the party's MPs was a young woman of Turkish descent.

[46][47] Many of the LPF's policies for the 2002 general election were based on proposals put forward in Fortuyn's book De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars.

The party also called for reforms to the Netherland's employment policy, proposed reducing the number of civil servants and abolishing permanent contracts for government employees.

The LPF also supported reforming the Dutch economic model, arguing that outdated bureaucracy and welfare systems had created psychological and physical barriers to entrepreneurship and modernization of the economy.

Fortuyn supported locating workplaces, smaller schools and regional hospitals closer to communities, expanding internet infrastructure outside of cities and replacing parts of the state with digital technology.

[55] Opposing the full membership of Turkey, Albania, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, the LPF maintained that the European Union "shouldn't cross the Bosporus and the Ural".

These included Marco Pastors and Joost Eerdmans, founders of the One NL, Winny de Jong of DeConservatieven.nl, and Hilbrand Nawijn, leader of the Party for the Netherlands—none of which managed to win a seat in the 2003 or 2006 elections.

[32] Traces of Fortuyn's legacy have remained at a national political level with former LPF politician Fleur Agema being elected to parliament for the Party for Freedom and later becoming Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands in 2024.

[32][34] In February 2006, soon before it fell out of parliament, the scholar Hans Jansen organised a conference in cooperation with the scientific committee of the LPF in the House of Representatives building that brought together several international anti-Islam figures, including Bat Ye'or, Daniel Pipes, Geert Wilders, Robert Spencer, Bruce Bawer, Lars Hedegaard, Ibn Warraq, Paul Beliën and Peder "Fjordman" Jensen.