Until this week, no Dutch party associated with the far right had ever won more than 20% of the vote in a national election. In Europe’s most fragmented political landscape, it is an achievement for any party to cross that threshold. Yet Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) did it with ease in Wednesday’s snap poll, which was precipitated by the resignation of the outgoing prime minister, Mark Rutte, in the summer. This was a victory that threatens to take the normalisation of nativist populist politics in Europe to a dangerous new level.
Campaigning on a nakedly Islamophobic manifesto, which called for bans on mosques and the Qur’an, Mr Wilders won a quarter of the vote. His party has won 37 seats in the 150-seat house of representatives, 12 more than its closest rival and double its tally in the last election. The PVV’s other policies include rejecting all asylum claims, drastically reducing overall levels of immigration, rolling back climate legislation and holding a referendum on leaving the European Union. The party is also opposed to sending more arms to Ukraine. A veteran provocateur on the European stage, Mr Wilders is on the right of the radical right; the dial of Dutch politics has just shifted radically in his favour.
