Brussels – Geert Wilders, the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (PVV), which had won the November parliamentary elections by a landslide. Last night, with a message on X, he announced that he had given up the race because he did not find the support of the numerous other parties necessary to form a majority.
“I can only become prime minister if all parties in the coalition support him. They didn’t. I would like a right-wing government. Less asylum and immigration. The Dutch in first place – wrote Wilders -. The love for my country and for the voters is great and more important than my position. I love the Netherlands.” Repeating his rhetoric he had to admit that he didn’t make it.
When the polls opened, the far-right party won 23.5 percent of the preferences, leading the coalition between the Labor Party and the Green Left by 8 percentage points GroenLinks (PvdA/Gl), led by the former head of the European Green Deal in the EU Commission, Frans Timmermans. Despite the growth in votes (+4.7 percent) compared to the last elections in 2021 – when the two forces ran divided – the red-green coalition stops at second place with 25 seats, behind Pvv’s 37. Third place for the centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD, which despite its name is not part of the family of the European People’s Party, but of the liberals of Renew Europe), with a collapse of 6.7 percentage points and 10 fewer seats at the House of Representatives (from 34 to 24). Same fate for the liberals of Democrats 66 (from 24 to 9 seats) and for the Christian Democrats of Christian Democratic Appeal (from 15 to 5). Exploit for the new centre-right formation New Social Contract, NSC, which placed itself in fourth place with 12.8 percent and 20 seats. Also noteworthy is the advance of Civic-Peasant Movement BBB – populist party that supports the interests of farmers – with 7 seats (+6 from the last legislature). In addition to these, 8 other parties will be represented in the lower house of the Dutch Parliament.
There are 15 political groups present in the Dutch Chamber, and the negotiations for the formation of a majority, and for the choice of the prime minister, were immediately uphill, pierced by crossed vetoes.
Now a debate is expected in the Chamber to understand whether the parties involved in the negotiations, PVV, the VVD, the BBB and NSC have the possibility of reaching an agreement with a different prime minister or if everything has run aground. The objective is to ensure a majority of at least 76 seats out of 150 House of Representatives (the lower house of the national parliament of the Netherlands).