Anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders wins Dutch election
AMSTERDAM: Dutch far-right populist Geert Wilders will start looking for coalition partners after a massive election win that is set to have wide repercussions in the Netherlands and Europe.
A fan of fellow eurosceptic, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the vocally anti-EU Wilders has vowed to halt all immigration, slash Dutch payments to the union and block the entrance of any new members, including Ukraine.
With 98% of the votes counted, his Freedom Party (PVV) won 37 seats out of 150, well ahead of 25 for a joint Labour/Green ticket and 24 for the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Wilders is internationally known for his anti-Islam politics and was convicted by a Dutch judge for discrimination after he insulted Moroccans at a campaign rally in 2014.
Wilders’ inflammatory views on Islam have prompted death threats and he has lived under heavy police protection for years. He has called Islam a “fascist ideology” and “backward religion” and wants to ban mosques and the Quran in the Netherlands.
Abroad, his anti-Islam comments led to violent protests in nations with large Muslim populations, including Pakistan, Indonesia and Egypt. In Pakistan, a religious leader issued a fatwa (decree) against him.
A coalition of the Freedom Party, VVD, and the NSC party of centrist lawmaker Pieter Omtzigt would have 81 seats combined, making it the most obvious combination but which could still take months of difficult talks. None of the parties he could form a government with share his anti-EU ideas.
“I am confident we can reach an agreement,” Wilders said in his victory speech. “We want to govern and … we will govern.” Wilders’ win comes two months after the return to power of the equally anti-EU populist Robert Fico in Slovakia, who has pledged to halt military aid to Ukraine and cut immigration.
Last year, Italy formed its most right-wing government since World War Two after the election victory of Giorgia Meloni. “The winds of change are here! Congratulations to Geert Wilders on winning the Dutch elections,” Orban said late on Wednesday.
In France, the far right was equally gleeful. “It is because there are people who refuse to see the national torch extinguished that the hope for change remains alive in Europe,” Marine Le Pen said.
Wilders has repeatedly said the Netherlands should stop providing arms to Ukraine, as he says the country needs the weapons to be able to defend itself. After his victory, he said “the Netherlands will be returned to the Dutch, the asylum tsunami and migration will be curbed.”
Wilders, and his party, have never been in government, although they backed Rutte’s first coalition government about a decade ago.
Islamic and Moroccan organisations expressed concerns about Wilders’ victory. Muslims make up about 5% of the population. “The distress and fear are enormous,” Habib el Kaddouri, who heads an organisation representing Dutch Moroccans, told a Dutch news agency. “We are afraid that he will portray us as second-class citizens.”
All eyes will now turn to Wilders’ potential government partners who had expressed serious doubts about working with him during the campaign, but were now less outspoken after his win. Rutte will remain in a caretaker role until a new government is installed, likely in the first half of 2024.