Dutch politician Geert Wilders is seen on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena on day two of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on July 19, 2016. Wilders won the race to be the Dutch Prime Minster on Wednesday in a landslide. Photo by Pete Marovich/UPI | License Photo
The anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders has been elected the next Dutch Prime Minister in what observers said is one of the biggest political upsets in Europe since WWII.
“I had to pinch my arm,” a jubilant Wilders said when the vote totals made it clear he was the winner. Advertisement
After 25 years in parliament, his Freedom party (PVV) is set to win 37 seats, well ahead of his nearest rival, a left-wing alliance.
“The PVV (Freedom party) can no longer be ignored,” Wilders said when it became clear he had won the election. “We will govern.”
Wilders’ win has rattled Dutch politics and given other European politicians a wake up call.
Wilders campaigned on a pledge to be “prime minister for everyone”, but in order to do that, he will have to persuade members of other parties to craft a coalition. To govern with a majority, he wants to take 76 of the 150-seats in parliament. Advertisement
Similar to other populist leaders in the world, including Donald Trump in the U.S., and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Wilders, 60, expertly capitalized on the frustrations of disenfranchised voters who claim they feel ignored and unheard, and used similar tactics as other hard right autocrats to harness widespread frustration about migration promising that he would make “borders closed”. He backed away from his threat to ban the Koran, a pledge he made repeatedly while on the campaign trail.
He was in a combative mood during a victory speech: “We want to govern and… we will govern,” he said defiantly. “[The seat numbers are] an enormous compliment but an enormous responsibility too.”
The margin of Wilders’ victory could change the stance of three other parties that said prior to the election that they would not form a governing coalition with the nationalist leader because of his extreme far-right positions on migration, religious freedom and other key issues.
Observers called the win over the second place center-left Labor Party and Green Left, which was forecast to win 26 seats to Wilders’ projected 37, “massive” and “shocking.”
Wilders made a direct appeal to his rivals to work together and given the scope of Wilders’ victory, they may not have much choice. Advertisement
The Netherlands is one of the four founding members of the European Union, so a strong victory for an ultra-conservative candidate like Wilders is likely to send shockwaves through Europe, which founded the EU based on cooperation.
Nationalist leaders around Europe were thrilled with the outcome and praised Wilders for his accomplishment. Leader of the hard-right French National Rally, Marine Le Pen said Wilders’ election “confirms the growing attachment to the defence of national identities”.
Wilders has talked of holding a referendum to leave the EU, calling it a “Nexit,” mirroring the term “Brexit,” which is how people referred to Britain leaving the EU. He has acknowledged that there is little public desire to do so immediately.
While campaigning on the issue, Wilders quieted his anti-Muslim rhetoric in the weeks before the election, saying there were more pressing issues to deal with and he “put in the fridge” his policies on banning mosques and Islamic schools.
