Yet one more nation has fallen to the far proper. The Dutch parliamentary elections have been held on 22 November, leading to a shock victory for Geert Wilders’ Social gathering for Freedom (PVV). With 37 seats out of 150, twenty greater than within the earlier elections, Wilders emerged far forward of the political alliance fashioned by the Labour Social gathering (PvdA, centre-left) and the Inexperienced Left (GL, left), led by former European Commissioner Frans Timmermans, which took simply 25 seats (15.5 % of the vote). The Individuals’s Social gathering for Freedom and Democracy (VVD, centre-right) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte got here third with 24 MPs (15.2 %).
Whereas there may be nonetheless loads to play for – the Social gathering for Freedom nonetheless has to discover allies to kind a coalition able to governing – the triumph of the unconventional proper, embodied by the Eurosceptic and Islamophobe Wilders, has shaken the entire of Europe. With only one 12 months to go earlier than the European elections, the PVV’s triumph has heightened issues that far-right populists might enter the European Parliament with a vengeance.
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