Netherlands: Geert Wilders' far-right wins parliamentary elections
Geert Wilders' far-right Islamophobic Dutch party won the general election on Wednesday, exit polls suggest, but the politician with the famous peroxide hair is far from assured of becoming prime minister.
Far-right Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders in The Hague on November 22, 2023. AP - Peter Dejong
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According to exit polls, the PVV (Freedom Party) won 35 seats and a comfortable electoral victory, Frans Timmermans' left-ecologist alliance is second with 26 seats and the centre-right VVD won 23 seats, according to the Ipsos institute.
His anti-immigration message, including closing borders and deporting illegal immigrants, seems to have resonated with Dutch voters, but forming a governing coalition will be difficult. The PVV "can no longer be ignored", Wilders said, calling on the other parties to work together to form a coalition. Before the elections, the leaders of the other three major parties had assured that they would not participate in a coalition led by the PVV.
But at the exit polls, the popular and populist Pieter Omtzigt said he was "available" to lead the Netherlands while conceding that the process would be "not easy". His New Social Contract (NSC) party, created last summer, is said to have won 20 seats.
Sharp right turn
Frans Timmermans rejected from the outset the idea of joining a coalition of Geert Wilders. "Now is the time for us to stand up for democracy," he said.
If confirmed by the final results, Geert Wilders' victory marks a sharp shift to the right that will be greeted with apprehension in Brussels: the PVV has promised a referendum on the Netherlands' accession to the European Union.
Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed on X (formerly Twitter) "The winds of change" after Geert Wilders' announced victory.
(
With AFP)
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