Dutch politicians made final rallying calls to voters yesterday in a general election campaign short of issues and passion.
The Prime Minister, Mr Wim Kok, took his Labour crusade to The Hague and then to Amsterdam, where Mr Frits Bolkestein of the coalition Liberals was also winding up his pre-election programme.
Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, leader of the main opposition Christian Democrats, sought to drum up votes on Delft market, famed for its blue and white pottery.
Health care, crime, immigration and tax have been the main domestic issues in a campaign that has struggled to catch the public imagination. One in five voters say they are still undecided.
The curtain came down on the 1998 election yesterday evening with a debate in Amsterdam's Carre Theatre. Mr Kok, Mr Bolkestein and Mr De Hoop Scheffer will square off with the D66 leader, Mr Els Borst, and Mr Paul Rosenmoeller of the environmentalist GroenLinks.
The last voter survey, released late on Monday, put Labour on course to return 45 deputies to the 150-seat parliament, adding eight seats to its current tally.
Amid general acceptance that left-of-centre Labour and right-of-centre Liberals will return to power, with or without D66, attention has focused on personalities. Commentators agree Mr Kok and his rival, Mr Bolkestein, are sorely lacking in sparkle.
If the popular Dutch television presenter, Paul Witteman, were to run in the election, he would win with ease, de Volkskrant newspaper stated yesterday.
"And politicians should consider themselves fortunate (former Ajax soccer trainer) Louis van Gaal is working in Spain at the moment," it added.
With little to choose in policy terms between the coalition parties and the main opposition Christian Democrats, the biggest beneficiaries of today's vote are likely to be parties on the left, Groen-Links and the Socialists.