Geert Wilders of the populist Party for Freedom (PVV) has suffered a major setback in his quest to become the next Dutch prime minister. On Wednesday (Nov 29), a key potential partner walked away from the governing coalition, citing non-alignment with Wilders’ extreme views.
The New Social Party led by its popular leader Pieter Omtzigt said there was no way of working with the PVV unless Wilders clarified his ‘more extreme parts of the manifesto’.
“All in all, the NSC faction does not now see any basis to start talks with the PVV about a majority or a minority government,” read the letter by Omtzigt to PVV.
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The PVV manifesto calls for a ban on the Quran, mosques and headscarves. It also bats for a referendum on ‘Nexit’ – the Netherlands leaving the European Union.
What is the equation?
Notably, the election results announced last week showed that Wilders’ party clinched 37 seats in the 150-seat parliament – far greater than what opinion polls had predicted.
However, to forge a government, he needs the backing of 76 MPs. Up until now, Wilders was relying on a coalition with the BBB farmers party (seven seats), the NSP which secured 20 seats and the current ruling party, the centre-right VVD (24 seats).
With VVD already ruling out a coalition, saying it would “support a centre-right coalition” from the opposition benches, it leaves Wilders with BBB and NSP as the only two viable options.
The largest left-leaning party, Labour/Green Left, has also ruled out aligning with Wilders completely. “It’s impossible, a no-go”, said leader Frans Timmermans.
Earlier this week, Wilders vowed that he would become the prime minister eventually. “Today, tomorrow or the day after, the PVV will be part of government and I will be prime minister of this beautiful country,” he said in a post on X.
A self-proclaimed fan of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and former United States president Donald Trump, Wilders is explicitly anti-European Union (EU) and has urged the Netherlands to take back control of its borders, significantly reduce its payments to the union, and block the entrance of any new members.
Wilders was one of the few international leaders to come in defence of Indian political leader Nupur Sharma when she made comments on Prophet Muhammad during a TV debate last year.
(With inputs from agencies)
