Anti-Islamic populist politician Geert Wilders won a huge victory in the Dutch elections, according to a nearly complete vote count on Thursday, November 23, in a stunning shift to the far right for a nation once famous for its more radical policies. open.
The result puts Wilders in line to lead negotiations to form the next coalition government and possibly become the Netherlands’ first far-right prime minister.
With almost all the votes counted, Wilders’ Freedom Party was predicted to win 37 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, two more than predicted by an exit poll when voting ended. on Wednesday night and more than double the 17 he got on Wednesday night. last election.
“I had to pinch my arm,” said Wilders, known as Dutch Donald Trump.
Despite his tough rhetoric, Wilders has already begun courting other right-wing and centrist parties, saying in a victory speech that any policies he promotes will be “within the law and the constitution.”
Wilders’ election manifesto included calls for a referendum on the Netherlands’ exit from the European Union, a complete suspension of accepting asylum seekers and the rejection of migrants at Dutch borders.
He also defends the “de-Islamization” of the Netherlands. He says he does not want mosques or Islamic schools in the country, although he has been softer on Islam during this election campaign than in the past.
“Voters said, ‘We’re fed up with this. We’re sick of it,’” he said, adding that he is now on a mission to end the “asylum tsunami,” referring to the migration issue that has come to dominate his campaign.
“The Dutch will be No. 1 again,” Wilders said. “The people must recover their nation.”
But Wilders must form a coalition government before he can take the reins of power.
This will be difficult, as the main parties are reluctant to join forces with him and his party, but the scale of his victory strengthens his position in any negotiations.
Wilders called on other parties to engage constructively in coalition talks. Pieter Omtzigt, a centrist former Christian Democrat who built his own New Social Contract party in three months to hold 20 seats, said he would always be open to negotiations.
Wilders’ closest party in the election was an alliance of the center-left Labor Party and GreenLeft, which was expected to win 25 seats. But their leader, Frans Timmermans, made it clear that Wilders should not count on a coalition with him.
“We will never form a coalition with parties that pretend that asylum seekers are the source of all misery,” Timmermans said, pledging to defend Dutch democracy.
The election was called after outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s fourth and final coalition resigned in July after failing to agree on measures to control migration.
Source: www.lindaikejisblog.com