Dutch Elections: Big Win for Fringe-Right Anti-Immigration Party
Dutch fringe-right politician Geert Wilders shocked Europe with his victory in the Dutch elections yesterday, winning 37 out of 150 seats. However, he lacks a majority to rule on his own, and complex coalition negotiations will determine the next prime minister.
Wilders rose to fame for confronting Islam in the 2000s. He said he wanted the Netherlands to be free of “Islamic schools, Korans and mosques.” He wants a Brexit-style referendum on the Netherlands’ membership in the European Union, an end to Dutch aid to Ukraine, and a reversal of Dutch climate-change policies.
His victory is a massive rebuke to the EU’s often left-wing agenda—but it may not be enough for him to become prime minister.
Coalition needed: His most likely path to office would be a coalition with the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (vvd). However, it’s led by Dilan Yesilgoz, who was born in Turkey. Like Wilders, she has promised to limit migration, but she’s not keen on serving under Wilders. The two parties would not be enough for a majority.
Wilders would also look for support from the New Social Contract, a new party that doesn’t fit neatly on the left-right spectrum, and instead focuses on moral and competent government. Its leader, Pieter Omtzigt, has ruled out working with Wilders.
But there aren’t many alternatives. Avoiding Wilders would probably mean a four-party, left-right coalition. None of the parties’ supporters want this; they’d have major disagreements and lack a majority in the Senate.
Europe-wide problem: This same dilemma will be facing many European countries soon: Bring fringe-right parties into government, maybe even into the prime minister’s office, and completely change the country’s direction; or form unpopular, ineffective coalitions, blocking the fringe out of politics for now, but making them more popular in the long run.
European politics are going through a major shift. We have been forecasting this for decades—based on prophecies in your Bible. To learn more, read our article “Europe’s Altered Personality.”