Far-right Liberty Party Holds 37 of 150 Seats
In the early general election in the Netherlands, the far-right party 'Party for Freedom (PVV)'?which has announced a tough anti-immigration policy?achieved a landslide victory. A far-right surge is spreading across Europe amid growing anti-immigration and anti-Islam sentiments.
According to Dutch media on the 23rd (local time), the election results from the previous day showed that the Party for Freedom secured 37 seats (24.7%) out of the total 150 seats in the House of Representatives, becoming the largest party in parliament. This is 2 seats more than the exit poll results (35 seats) and more than double the 17 seats the party won in the previous election.
The second-place left-leaning Green-Left and Labour Party alliance (GL-PvdA) won only 25 seats. The current ruling party in the coalition government, the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), remained in third place with 24 seats (15.1%). For the VVD, led by current Prime Minister Mark Rutte who had led coalition formations by winning first place in the last four elections, this is a shocking defeat after 13 years.
As a result of this election, the possibility of Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom and known as the "Dutch Trump," becoming prime minister has increased. Wilders, a far-right populist politician, left the VVD in 2006 and founded the Party for Freedom.
He has advocated exclusive nationalist policies such as drastically reducing immigrants and closing Islamic mosques. He has also called for the Netherlands to withdraw from the European Union (EU).
With a larger-than-expected margin of victory in this election, the Party for Freedom now holds the initiative in forming a coalition government. To establish a stable coalition, a majority of at least 76 seats out of the total 150 in the House of Representatives is required, so the Party for Freedom must find partners to fill 39 seats. Wilders proposed forming a center-right coalition including the VVD, the New Social Contract party, and the small party Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), which holds 7 seats. If all these parties agree, they would secure a total of 88 seats.
Additionally, Wilders expressed his intention to challenge for the prime minister position. However, his reputation in the political sphere is not favorable, and significant differences in party platforms mean that the process of nominating a prime minister and forming a coalition could take several months.
This early election in the Netherlands was held two years after Prime Minister Rutte announced the dissolution of the coalition government in July. The cause of the coalition's collapse was internal conflict over immigration reduction policies.
The rise of far-right parties in Europe is becoming a widespread phenomenon. In last month’s Swiss general election, the hard-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) won a landslide with 62 seats. In April’s Finnish general election, the far-right Finns Party won 46 seats, becoming the second-largest party and joining the right-wing coalition. In Italy, the far-right Brothers of Italy (FdI) won last October’s general election, leading to Giorgia Meloni becoming prime minister.
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