Five years after Fortuyn death, party closes HQ

AMSTERDAM, May 4 (Reuters) Just days before the fifth anniversary of the killing of Dutch right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn, his party has sunk into political obscurity and closed its headquarters as it ran out of cash.

As no member of the List Pim Fortuyn (LPF) still holds a national or regional office, the headquarters in The Hague are no longer necessary or affordable, party secretary Jens Van der Vorm told the Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad.

The daily AD said removal vans were expected on Saturday. The anniversary of Fortuyn's death is on Sunday, May 6.

The LPF lost all its eight seats in the national parliament in the last election in November 2006, thus also losing subsidies paid by the interior ministry.

The LPF is still represented in five city councils, and will call a convention in June at which party members will decide on the future of the party, the newspapers reported.

Former sociology professor Fortuyn rose to prominence in 2002 when his populist, anti-immigration party came from nowhere to win control of the Rotterdam city council, saying that the densely populated country could not absorb any more foreigners and that Islam was incompatible with mainstream Dutch culture.

He was shot dead by an animal rights activist on May 6, 2002, shortly before his party ended second in a national election in the same month.

But others have taken up his mantra with gusto, like anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders who was quoted earlier this year as urging Muslims to dump half of the Koran.

Reuters SM DB2059