FASCIST EUROPE
Anti-migrant firebrand Geert Wilders leads Dutch polls on eve of knife-edge election

James Crisp
Tue, 21 November 2023 

The spotlight is on Geert Wilders, a divisive figure in the Netherlands but one who could become the country's next prime minister if the polls are correct - Shutterstock /Robin Utrecht

Geert Wilders, the anti-migrant firebrand known for his fierce rhetoric against Islam, has taken a shock lead in the polls before a knife-edge general election in the Netherlands on Wednesday.

The veteran leader of the hard-Right PVV was on Tuesday predicted to win 28 seats, enough to potentially make him prime minister in a country where nearly one million people, more than five per cent of the population, are Muslims.

“In the latest poll we are the biggest party in the Netherlands!,” the shock haired populist said. “Make it the truth tomorrow.”


It would be a seismic victory for Mr Wilders, who has been an MP since 1998 but never a formal part of any Dutch government.

The election is being held to replace Mark Rutte, the former VVD leader and the longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history.

Mr Wilders increased his support by two seats in 24 hours, to lead by one, while his rivals in the three-way race remained tied in second place in Tuesday’s poll. Some 63 per cent of voters were still undecided.

Polls on Monday evening showed Mr Wilders had moved from fourth to third place before taking the lead over the pro-business VVD and Groenlinks-PvdA, an alliance of green and left wing parties led by Frans Timmermans, the former EU climate change chief.

Mr Wilders has moderated his inflammatory rhetoric in a campaign dominated by migration, the cost of living and a housing crisis, amid reports he could be kingmaker in a future coalition. Victory in the election would give him the first attempt to form a government.

Wilders has toned down his inflammatory rhetoric recently - Shutterstock /Koen van Weel

As momentum built behind his campaign in the final days before the vote, aided by a strong performance in a televised leaders’ debate at the weekend, he has soaked up the anti-establishment vote from populist rivals. That support has shifted from the BBB, the Dutch farmer’s party which triumphed in regional elections earlier this year, to the radical centrist New Social Contract party, founded by the hugely popular Pieter Omtzigt just three months ago, before alighting on the PVV.

Wilders faces fight with ‘pitbull in high heels’

But the Eurosceptic Mr Wilders, 60, will face stiff opposition from Dilan Yesilgöz, the 46-year-old leader of the VVD, who was tied at the head of the polls with Mr Timmermans before the PVV’s latest surge.

Ms Yesilgöz, an Ankara-born former refugee nicknamed a “pitbull in high heels”, had earlier appeared to be on course to become the first female prime minister of the Netherlands after vowing to crack down on migration. She still could head a conservative coalition if the divisive Mr Wilders proves unable to form a government, keeping her party in power after 13 years under “Teflon Mark” Rutte’s leadership.

The latest polls have her taking 27 seats, the same as Mr Timmermans, who has warned Left-leaning voters he is their only chance to prevent a Right-wing coalition.

Ms Yesilgöz moved to the Netherlands as an eight year old in 1984 with her mother and sister to join her father, a Kurdish human rights activist who had fled Turkey three years earlier. She was Mr Rutte’s uncompromising justice minister, earning comparisons to former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, whose parents moved to this country from India and who spearheaded the controversial Rwanda plan.
Yesilgöz rules out coalition with Wilders

Mr Rutte’s coalition government collapsed in July when his partners bridled at his push for tougher migration rules after a crushing March defeat at the hands of the BBB in a regional vote dominated by tractor protests against his green policies.

Ms Yesilgöz stands to benefit from widespread support for other Right-wing parties promising limits on migration who may baulk at entering an alliance with Mr Wilders, who goes everywhere with bodyguards because of his frequent criticism of the Koran.

Mr Omtzigt, a possible ally who had led in the polls but has lost support after suggesting he might not want to be prime minister, is predicted to win 21 seats. The BBB, which also backs a cap on asylum seeker numbers, is set to take five.

Early in the campaign, Ms Yesilgöz declared she would not exclude Mr Wilders from coalition negotiations, unlike her predecessor Mr Rutte. Mr Timmermans accused her of opening the door for Mr Wilders to enter government, who he accused of treating a million Dutch Muslims as “second class citizens”.

On Tuesday, however, Ms Yesilgöz said she would not enter into coalition with Mr Wilders if he was to be prime minister and that she did not think the PVV would win the election.

“I am not going to do that,” she said, “This country needs a leader who can connect.”

Dilan Yesilgoz (R) says she will not enter into a coalition with Wilders (L) if he was to become prime minster - Shutterstock

Andre Krouwel, who teaches political science at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, said Ms Yesilgöz had tried to split the anti-establishment vote between the PVV and NSC by not explicitly ruling out any coalition. The associate professor told the Telegraph that encouraged voters to turn to the PVV because it had a chance at government, unlike in the past.