Editing Pim Fortuyn List (section)

===Background===
The LPF was founded by its namesake, Pim Fortuyn, a former sociology professor who had become known in the Netherlands as an author, press columnist and a media commentator. Fortuyn had announced his intention to run for parliament in a television interview on 20&nbsp;August&nbsp;2001. An unusual aspect of this was that it was not yet clear which political party he would be a candidate for. 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 [[Electoral list|list]]. He subsequently became a member of the LN in 2001 at the encouragement of its chairman [[Jan Nagel]]. On 25&nbsp;November he was chosen as party leader for the LN. The LN functioned as the combined national extension of various movements that existed as localist alternatives to the main parties and had contested [[municipal]] elections but had never contested in national elections before.<ref name=rvh45>{{harvnb|Rydgren|van Holsteyn|2005|p=45}}</ref><ref name=m21011>{{harvnb|Mudde|2007|pp=210–211}}</ref> Fortuyn concluded his acceptance speech by saying the words that would become his slogan; "At your service!"<ref name=rvh45/> Almost immediately after Fortuyn became leader, LN went from 2% in opinion polls to about 17%.<ref name=m211>{{harvnb|Mudde|2007|p=211}}</ref>

In January&nbsp;2002, it was announced that Fortuyn also would head the [[Livable Rotterdam]] (LR) list for the March&nbsp;2002 local elections. The official 2002 election study found that immigration and integration problems were the second most important issue for voters after issues concerning the health care system. 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.<ref name=rvh46>{{harvnb|Rydgren|van Holsteyn|2005|p=46}}</ref>

Until February, Liveable Netherlands had received disproportionate and generally sympathetic coverage in the media. The situation took a dramatic turn on 9&nbsp;February, when Fortuyn was interviewed in ''[[de Volkskrant]]'', one of the leading national newspapers. 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 [[right of asylum|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]]. Fortuyn maintained that if he came to power, he would pardon asylum seekers and illegal immigrants who had been in the Netherlands for a certain period but if legally possible he would close the borders to Muslim immigrants. Fortuyn was summoned to an emergency meeting by the LN party board and asked to retract his statements, but after refusing he was dismissed as party leader the next day. In a television interview, Fortuyn said that the split was irreparable, although he would have preferred to remain in the party.<ref name=rvh46/>

[[File:Pim Fortuyn - May 4.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Founder and Leader [[Pim Fortuyn]] on 4 May 2002.]]