Geert Wilders said today that he wants to be prime minister and that he was in favour of a referendum on whether the Netherlands should leave the European Union, Reuters reported.
“But the first thing is a significant restriction on asylum and immigration,” the far-right politician said.
Wilders also said that if he were to become prime minister, he would be prime minister for all Dutch people.
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Geert Wilders’ far-right, anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) is on course to be the largest party in the Dutch parliament, with 37 seats in a major electoral upset whose reverberations will be felt around Europe.
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A GreenLeft-Labour party alliance (GL/PvdA) led by the former EU commissioner Frans Timmermans finished second with 25 seats.
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The liberal-conservative Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), led by the outgoing justice minister, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, got 24 seats.
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Much will now depend on a coalition-building process, and whether parties are willing to join a government that includes the PVV.
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Wilders said that he wants to be prime minister and that the first thing is a significant restriction on asylum and immigration.
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News that Wilders’ far-right, anti-Islam party had emerged with the most votes set off alarm bells for Dutch Muslims over what might lie ahead in a country once regarded as a beacon of tolerance.
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French far-right politician Marine Le Pen said she felt Wilders had “evolved” and that his results were the consequence of a kind of “normalisation”.
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Jan Zahradil, a leading figure within the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, said the “mainstream establishment” had been “left shocked”.
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The European Greens said that if VVD joins a coalition with the far-right PVV, it should be expelled from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
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Climate activists from Greenpeace Netherlands said they were protesting this afternoon in The Hague, waving banners that say “No climate denier as our prime minister”.
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Matthijs Rooduijn, an associate professor of political science at Amsterdam University, said Wilders had not become less radical in his ideas, but his approach was different in the campaign.
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Hein de Haas, a sociologist at the University of Amsterdam, said the VVD’s strategy of focusing the campaign on immigration had backfired and legitimised Wilders.
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Alexander Clarkson, a lecturer in German and European studies at King’s College London, said he suspected “the trajectory of Wilders in power would be that of Haider as a populist entirely focused on gaining power yet struggles to use it”.
The European Greens said today that if VVD joins a coalition with Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV, it should be expelled from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
Thomas Waitz and Mélanie Vogel, co-chairs of the European Green party, said in a statement that “the VVD has a big responsibility when it comes to possible future government coalitions”.
They added:
Will they choose for a democratic coalition? Or will they embrace a coalition with a far-right party that wants to kill climate policy, to leave the European Union, stop all support to Ukraine, and strip minorities in the Netherlands of their rights?
The Green politicians said that “the fact that the VVD is even considering forming a government with a party that is against minorities, against Europe, against the rule of law, and against journalists is simply appalling”.
If the VVD goes into government with the far right, ALDE should expel the party from its membership for clearly violating its most important statutes.
Climate activists from Greenpeace Netherlands said they were protesting this afternoon in The Hague, waving banners that say “No climate denier as our prime minister”.
The far-right PVV, which is best known abroad for its anti-Muslim rhetoric, has also taken a hard line on policies to stop the planet heating.
In its manifesto it says it wants: “No wasting billions on pointless climate hobbies, but more money for our people.”
Heleen de Coninck, professor of climate policy at Eindhoven University of Technology, said:
PVV is close to climate denialism. It’s not quite denying that climate change is happening and human-made any more, but this is a recent turn.
The party wants more oil and gas exploration, to stop building wind turbines and solar farms, and is in favour of continuing to heat houses with fossil gas. It also wants to abolish the Dutch climate law and leave the Paris agreement on climate change.
Still, said De Coninck: “For many of its proposals the party will not find a majority at all in parliament. There was an easy majority for the climate law in parliament, and that has not changed.”
The Netherlands, 26% of which lies below sea level, is an outsize polluter and hub for European industry and agriculture. Its efforts to cut nitrogen pollution have led to widespread protests from farmers.
Matthijs Rooduijn, an associate professor of political science at Amsterdam University, who studies populism and polarisation, said there were multiple reasons for Geert Wilders’ unexpectedly strong performance.
“There is in general a context that is favourable for a rightwing populist party, because there is a lot of political discontent and because there is a lot of talk about immigration and asylum,” he said.
When Mark Rutte led the VVD, he “was not willing to collaborate with Wilders”. But under new VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius “that changed, and she said that she was not going to exclude him and that it would depend on his programme and on his ideas”.
“Basically she opened the door a little bit,” the academic said, “and that I think had huge consequences.”
Plus, Rooduijn noted, “Wilders really changed his approach”.
He did not become less radical in his ideas. His election programme was as radical as ever. But his approach was different, his style was different. He said that Islam was not his core priority any more, that there were different issues that were more important.
He also said that he really wanted to form a government coalition and he really was cooperative. He said to voters and to other parties, ‘listen, I really want to collaborate. I really want to form a government. I want to do it with you. So in tone it was a very different Geert Wilders.
But his ideas never changed. His plans about Islam were still the same.
Another element was voters’ preference for a rightwing coalition, according to Rooduijn.
We know that many voters wanted a rightwing government coalition. And then he really, I mean skillfully made the argument that if voters wanted a rightwing coalition, they needed to vote for him.
In Kyiv, which has faced growing western war fatigue, the Dutch election results will be a worry.
Like other far-right leaders on the continent, Wilders has praised Vladimir Putin’s rule, rallying against what he has described as “hysterical Russophobia” in Europe.
Four years after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, Wilders travelled to Moscow and met senior Russian officials in the Duma, a trip that was fiercely condemned by relatives of Dutch victims of the shooting down of flight MH17, who blamed him for ignoring Moscow’s part in the disaster.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Wilders has somewhat distanced himself from the Kremlin, calling the invasion a mistake. But a government under Wilders is unlikely to play the same role in helping Ukraine as seen under the longtime prime minister Mark Rutte, who led the effort to deliver F-16 combat aircraft to Ukraine.
In one of the last debates before the election, Wilders said he would not support sending Ukraine more weapons, a statement that will send a chill through Ukraine, as military aid already appears to be faltering.
Read the full story here.
So what happens now?
The Dutch have one of the world’s most proportional, splintered multiparty systems, which means it is difficult to form a coalition, and you don’t vote for a prime minister either.
In order to form a majority, something the parliamentary website describes as “a complex and exciting process”, the leaders of political parties appoint a scout to start talks. Within a week of elections, the sitting parliament appoints an informateur to carry out detailed negotiations with the most likely candidates.
If there’s a potential alliance, the formateur – probably the next prime minister – concludes talks, divvying up cabinet and ministerial posts according to parties’ number of seats and policy preferences. They sign a coalition agreement, typically as thick as a Charles Dickens novel, present their plans in parliament and have a vote of confidence.
Read the full explainer here.
Share your view
If you’re a voter in the Netherlands, share your reaction to the election result.
Geert Wilders described it as the “most beautiful day” of his political life. But for many across the Netherlands, news that Wilders’ far-right, anti-Islam party had emerged with the most votes in Wednesday’s election set off alarm bells over what may lie ahead in a country once regarded as a beacon of tolerance.
“These election results are shocking for Dutch Muslims,” said Muhsin Köktas of the Contact Body for Muslims and Government. “We did not expect such a party with a programme that is against the basic principles of the rule of law to be so big.”
At the helm of the Party for Freedom (PVV), Wilders has long taken aim at Islam, describing it as a fascist ideology of “a retarded culture” and a “backward religion”. Since 2004, he has been under police protection and in 2016 was convicted of discrimination after he called Moroccans “scum” at a campaign rally.
Though he sought to soften his anti-Islam rhetoric in the lead-up to the elections, the party’s manifesto includes a ban on mosques, the Qur’an and Islamic headscarves in government buildings. As his party’s gains became clear on Wednesday evening, Wilders vowed to push policies “within the law and constitution”.
The apparent change in tone was of little comfort to Köktas. “We have great concerns about the future of Islam and Muslims in the Netherlands,” he said.
He hoped that people from across the Netherlands would join together to defend and protect the rule of law. “This is absolutely necessary, not only for the future of Muslims but also for the future of the peaceful Dutch society,” he added.
Read the full story here.
Opinion: The Netherlands underestimated the far right – and Geert Wilders’ victory is the result
Cas Mudde writes:
How do we make sense of the political earthquake that has put Wilders and his PVV party in first place and how will it affect Dutch and European politics? The first, and most important, lesson is one that Dutch politicians in particular should have known, as it has happened over and over again in the past three decades in the Netherlands and throughout western Europe. If you make the elections about the issues of the far right, notably the “problem” of immigration, the far right wins.
Read the full story here.
Caroline van der Plas, the leader of the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB), said today she was interested in entering a coalition with Geert Wilders’ PVV, provided that he moderate some of his positions, NOS reported.
BBB won seven seats.
Rem Korteweg, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch thinktank, says the Netherlands is not leaving the EU anytime soon – but that the spectre of an exit is back in Dutch politics.
“If Wilders is able to form a government, it will be very critical of any new EU initiatives, spending, agreements or enlargement,” he said.
Here is footage of a dramatic election night in the Netherlands yesterday.
Dirk Gotink, spokesperson for the president of the centre-right European People’s party, Manfred Weber, said migration was “underestimated by the left” and that the VVD’s “mistake” was “not the topic, it was normalizing Wilders from the start”.
In Rotterdam, the Dutch election’s outcome is hardly a shock to either supporters or opponents of Geert Wilders.
Annie, 66, a retired secretary, who voted to keep the outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte’s party in power said: “I thought he would get a lot of votes but not this much, but it is not a surprise, people are very angry about immigration, housing, the elderly, everything but I hope that Wilders won’t stay in government.”
Down the road from Rotterdam Centraal station, Jeannette, 34, is receiving a delivery of bags of potatoes for the chip shop where she works.
She voted for Wilders, largely out of anger that she and her family including grandparents have to pay so much for everything.
“While he said ‘enough is enough’ he is right ‘enough is enough’. We pay too much tax, too much for healthcare, too much for rent. We can’t take it any more.
She doesn’t agree with all his past declarations including a ban on the hijab. “If people want to wear that I understand.”
Geert Wilders said today that he wants to be prime minister and that he was in favour of a referendum on whether the Netherlands should leave the European Union, Reuters reported.
“But the first thing is a significant restriction on asylum and immigration,” the far-right politician said.
Wilders also said that if he were to become prime minister, he would be prime minister for all Dutch people.
Readers weigh in on the Dutch election results
A number of readers have sent in their thoughts on the outcome of the election.
“People didn’t learn much from history. The intolerance is unbelievable,” wrote one reader.
Another noted: “The disconnect between the biggest cities and the countryside is huge.”
And while the election was not about the Netherlands’ membership in the EU, some British readers living in the country have raised concerns about the Netherlands’ future in the bloc.
One reader, however, celebrated the results, expressing hope that after Argentina and the Netherlands, the right would do well in the United States next year.
So what’s next? The Netherlands is likely to enter a complicated period of coalition-building.
Geert Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom got the most seats – but that doesn’t mean he will necessarily end up in government.
A GreenLeft-Labour party alliance (GL/PvdA) has 25 seats, and the Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is at 24 seats. Put together with the New Social Contract’s (NSC) 20 seats and the social liberal Democrat 66’s nine seats, this type of grouping could have 78 seats – a majority.
One alternative configuration could include Wilders: if the VVD and NSC agree to enter a coalition with PVV. Such a coalition would have 81 votes.
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