THE HAGUE, 21/01/03 - With Job Cohen as its candidate for the premiership, the Labour (PvdA) party is opting for solidarity. The Amsterdam mayor is characterised by friend and foe alike as a friendly, circumspect man who tries to look for consensus.

In 1998, Cohen became justice state secretary in the second 'purple' governing coalition between the PvdA, conservatives (VVD) and center-left (D66) led by PvdA premier Wim Kok. At end-2000, the opportunity to become the capital city's mayor emerged. Cohen seized this with both hands and left 'purple II' before Pim Fortuyn entered the political stage.

Cohen can thank his premature departure from The Hague for his current selection. When Fortuyn came forward in the course of 2001, his poisoned arrows devastated the hitherto good reputation of the Kok-cabinet and its 'purple' ministers. Cohen however remained out of range; when he was state secretary, voters had not yet been made aware of their own dissatisfactions.

Cohen, 55, got involved in the election battle last week by warning of the effect of a Christian democrat (CDA)-VVD cabinet on the integration of minorities. Cohen fears the tough policy for which the VVD in particular stands will lead to a deep chasm in Dutch society, with the indigenous and immigrants moving further apart from one another.

The cautious Cohen, born in Haarlem on 18 October 1947, often keeps his counsel where others plunge fully into the debate. "I, too, can say little with many words, but I prefer not to," he said in an interview. He calculates in order not to create any political enmity, suggesting comparisons with Kok.

Cohen's name had already been mentioned earlier as successor to Kok. In 1998, the PvdA king however passed the leadership baton to Ad Melkert, which turned out in retrospect not to have been a happy choice.

Cohen is primarily an administrator and not a dyed-in-the-wool politician. In 1994, as husband of a woman with multiple sclerosis, he turned down the first 'purple' administration's education minister portfolio for personal reasons. A year earlier, he had succeeded Roel in 't Veld as education state secretary when In 't Veld was forced to resign after eight days due to a furore over his commercial activities as professor at Rotterdam's Erasmus University.

Cohen had earlier been rector of the University of Maastricht, and returned to this post in 1994 when the first 'purple' cabinet was formed. As member of the Upper House, he maintained contact with The Hague, making his return in 1998 as justice state secretary in the second PvdA-VVD-D66 government. Halfway through, he resigned to become mayor of Amsterdam, traditionally a post awarded to a successful PvdA politician.

Cohen showed himself from day one as a mayor for all Amsterdammers, black and white. Now the highest public office in the country beckons, he will also want to be a premier for all of the Dutch.