I’ll be back, vows far Right leader Wilders
FAR-RIGHT Dutch politician Geert Wilders has hailed his party becoming the second largest in Parliament as a “result to be proud of”, despite losing out to his moderate rival.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s VVD party won 33 of the country’s 150 seats, down from 41 at the last vote in 2012.
The Wilders-led Party for Freedom was second with 20 seats, an increase of five from the previous election.
The centrist “Democrats 66” and CDA gained 19 seats each.
As the winner became clear in the early hours of yesterday, Wilders told his rival he was not giving up. He warned: “Next time we will be number one – Rutte has not seen the back of me.” He said he wanted to participate in coalition talks, even though mainstream parties have ruled out working with him.
His party’s manifesto pledged to close borders to Muslim immigrants, shut mosques, ban the Koran and take the Netherlands out of the EU.
Wilders had led in opinion polls until late in the campaign.
A win would have been a boost for French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is second in polls ahead of the presidential election in April and May.
BBC reporters could scarcely conceal their glee yesterday morning as news came through that Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party had performed less well than expected: gaining around 13 per cent of the national vote in Wednesday’s Dutch elections.
“Does it mean the populist wave has ended after Brexit and Donald Trump’s victory?” asked Europe editor Katya Adler on the Today programme, adding that a surge in support for the Green Party could signal a “counter trend” of politicians who are “Left-leaning in politics, EU-enthusiastic and open to multiculturalism”.
How very subtle and how very typical of the way the BBC – and many Remainers – have been trying to link Brexit with racism and xenophobia.
Wanting to leave the EU, goes the narrative, lumps you together with nasty extremists who want to keep out all foreigners. Being in favour of the EU, on the other hand, links you with all those positive things like caring about others and being open to people and ideas from outside your own country.
Trying to link Brexit with Geert Wilders is not only offensive to the more than 17 million people who voted to leave the EU, it is very wide of the mark. True, Wilders wants the Netherlands to leave the EU but there the connection with the vast number of Britons who voted to leave the EU ends.
WILDERS’ Freedom Party is a bizarre one-man band which is defined above all else by its unpleasant and obsessive campaign against Islam. Mr Wilders, who is the sole official member of his party and who dictates all policy, is not just concerned with Islamic extremism. He wants to close down all mosques, ban the Koran, stop all immigration from Muslim countries and stop granting asylum to anyone.
Unless you define being “Right-wing” as being xenophobic, Wilders does not warrant being described in that way. On the contrary he would be best called an aggressive nationalist liberal. He opposes Islam precisely because he perceives it as a threat to Dutch libertarian values on drugs, women, gay rights and so on. Economically he is in many