Far right, anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders has won a historic victory for his Freedom party (PVV) in shock Dutch elections on Wednesday. As the final votes are counted, Wilders appears to have more than doubled his 17 MPs in 2021 elections, winning 37 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament and almost a quarter of the 13 million votes. ‘The PVV can no longer be ignored,’ vowed Wilders following his success overnight. ‘We will govern’.
Wilders, who campaigned on the idea of ‘stopping’ immigration, appears to have benefitted from widespread mistrust of the government after a series of scandals under ex prime minister Mark Rutte. For years, Wilders has tried to present himself as different from other politicians: the 60-year-old has called parliament ‘fake’ and posed as a candidate for change – despite soon celebrating 25 years as a politician. In this election, his message finally hit home.
Wilders said he was prepared to put his extreme stance on Islam ‘on ice’
‘Hah, hah, hah, 35 seats!’ he said last night, after watching the first exit poll. In a packed café in Scheveningen, the Hague, he told his supporters: ‘The voters have said: ‘We have had enough’…We will ensure that the Nederlander comes to be number one again.’
For 13 years, Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) has distanced itself from Wilders. But the VVD’s new leader, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, chose early on in the campaign to open the door to Wilders. Instead of excluding him, as Rutte did after a disastrous minority government in 2010, she said she would ‘not exclude his voters’ but would look at his policies.
In response, Wilders was perceived to take a slightly milder tone – on some points, at least. Wilders, who has lived under 24/7 protection for almost 20 years due to death threats, has called Islam ‘the ideology of a retarded culture’. But in this campaign, he was more conciliatory. He said he was prepared to put his extreme stance on Islam ‘on ice’ and be a prime minister for ‘all Dutch people’. Even so, his uncosted manifesto still calls for ‘no Islamic schools, Korans and mosques’. He has also never taken back a 2014 campaign speech calling for ‘fewer Moroccans’, for which he has a criminal record.
Sarah de Lange, professor of political pluralism at Amsterdam University, said that the media went along with the idea that Wilders was ‘milder’, while other parties’ focus on controlling immigration played into Wilders’ hands.
'Wilders has clearly benefited from the fact that Yeşilgöz made him the flavour of the month and that the VVD and (centre-right new party New Social Contract) have made immigration a central issue in the elections,' she said. 'The result is a huge surprise...to experts like me.'
If Wilders does become prime minister, he will inherit a country in a difficult position. The Netherlands is in economic recession and is in the middle of a huge housing crisis, largely due to a lack of building. A scandal involving Europe's largest gasfield in Groningen, a region in the north – where drilling has caused earthquakes – has damaged tens of thousands of homes. As a result, drilling has been stopped – but this has contributed to crippling bills for many Dutch. Even in this wealthy country of 17.9 million, 7 per cent of children will officially be living in poverty next year, according to economic analysis unit the CPB.
'All of my money goes to everyone except to me,' one man told NOS broadcaster. 'I vote for Mr Wilders. He says he doesn’t exclude anyone, he won’t exclude Muslims. I think he’s realistic.'
As parties, like the VVD which suffered a historic loss, retire to lick their wounds, or congratulate themselves, like the pro-reform New Social Contract or GreenLeft/Labour, which have scored big gains, it remains to be seen whether Wilders will be able to form a 76 seat majority that will allow him to lead a government. Pieter Omtzigt, head of the NSC, previously excluded working with 'anti-constitutional parties' but is being more nebulous after the 'complicated' result. Yeşilgöz said on election night she 'didn’t see that this country would have a leader who does not bring together all Dutch people, who is there for all of the Dutch…but above all I don’t see a majority forming.' But for now the ball, as she said, is with Wilders.
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