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ANALYSIS: The triumph of the extreme right, does the Netherlands risk leaving the European Union?

2023-11-24 22:45:08Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
ANALYSIS: The triumph of the extreme right, does the Netherlands risk leaving
Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders was the surprise winner in parliamentary elections in the Netherlands on Wednesday after a late surge in the polls gave his anti-EU party a landslide victory over its main rivals. As people in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe try to get over the shock of this event, here are some of the main issues they should consider:

Who is Wilders?

60-year-old Wilders has been a well-known figure in Dutch politics for decades. He began his career as a member of former prime minister Mark Rutte's liberal group, but broke away as an independent MP before founding the openly anti-immigrant Freedom Party, known by its Dutch acronym PVV.

He has faced death threats for his anti-Islamic views, and has been under heavy police protection since 2004. In 2020, a court found him guilty of blasphemy charges for comments he made. against Moroccan immigrants, but the judges did not set any specific punishment for him. He is seen as the Dutch politician, representative of a populism supported by Donald Trump in the USA or by the newly elected president of Argentina, Javier Milei.

How did he win?

Few people considered Gert Wilders a serious candidate at the beginning of the election campaign. But Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, Mark Rutte's successor at the head of the liberal group, gave him a "lifeline", saying she would consider the possibility of a co-government coalition with the Freedom Party.

Another early frontrunner in the early polls, Pieter Omtzigt, lost a lot of ground along the way after raising public doubts about whether he really wanted to be prime minister. Wilders, on the other hand, took a more pragmatic approach, toning down some of his most controversial policies, and telling voters he wanted to be part of the next government, whatever it might be. He then performed very well in recent televised debates, appearing more confident in his ideas and proposals than other rivals in the race.

What has Wilders promised?

One of his most important proposals concerns a mandatory referendum on the country's exit from the European Union. Wilders also wants the Netherlands to withdraw from its international obligations under measures against climate change, and has called for a massive reduction in immigration.

The Netherlands "has been significantly weakened due to the constant flows of asylum seekers and mass immigration", his party would say in its electoral manifesto. Also, Geert Wilderds has vowed to stop sending aid to Ukraine, and has called for the Koran to be banned and mosques to be closed.

But in his speech on election night, he said he was willing to compromise to ensure a co-governance deal was reached in the coalition. Therefore, it is not clear how many of these policies he will be able to implement in the future.

Can a deal really secure a coalition government?

Geert Wilders' Freedom Party is projected to win 35 seats. But he needs 76 seats in total to secure an outright majority. The preliminary result suggests that a center-right coalition would include outgoing Prime Minister Rutte's former party, the newly formed center-right New Social Contract group and the Farmers' Movement.

Together these parties would have 86 seats in the parliament. Before the election, Yesilgoz-Zegerius said she was prepared to govern together with Wilders, but she backtracked somewhat on election night. The Farmers' Party said that it wants to be part of the talks for a governing coalition.

But there is no guarantee that Wilders will get the top job of prime minister. In 1982, the Dutch Labor Party won a majority of seats, but its centre-right rivals eventually managed to top the governing coalition.


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