Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Anti-Immigrant Wilders Finishes First in Dutch Election
The Dutch went to the polls yesterday in an election brought on by the collapse of the Mark Rutte, who served 13 years in office. The issue that ended his days in office was immigration. It also turned out that the same issue made up the biggest concern among Dutch voters. Many of them opted for the loud and narrow-minded (and inappropriately named) Party for Freedom (PVV by its Dutch initials). The leader of the PVV Geert Wilders has been a fixture in Dutch politics for decades, but this is the first time that his party finished with the most seats. This means that he will likely get first crack at forming a government. Worringly, some of the other parties are willing to work with him. The idea of liberal Holland is under threat.
"The Dutch voter has spoken," Mr. Wilders said in a speech on Wednesday night, declaring himself the winner. "The voter has said, \'We are fed up.\'" He added that he wanted to return "the Netherlands to the Dutch." His platform includes banning the immigration of Muslims to the Netherlands, taxing headscarves worn in public and banning the Quran. While campaigning, he dialled back his anti-Islamic attitudes. He said there were more important matters, and he would put the anti-Islamic polices "in the refrigerator." He also wants to leave the EU and end aid to Ukraine.
Rene Cuperus, a senior research fellow at global affairs think-tank the Clingendael Institute said, "It\'s not an anti-Islam vote. It\'s not an anti EU vote. No, it\'s more a middle finger against the establishment in The Hague," Dr. Cuperus said, referring to the city where the government is based. "It\'s an anti-establishment signal . . . to really warn the established parties to fix the housing market crisis and to fix migration." Perhaps, it will not be as bad as one expects. The good news is that Mr. Wilders cannot take office immediately.
There are 150 seats in the Dutch House of Representatives, so 76 is the magic number for a majority. The PVV secured 37 seats, leaving Mr. Wilders 39 seats short of governing. If the other parties refused to work with him (as they have in the past), he would not be able to govern. The leftish Greens and Labour scored 25 seats. The center right Freedom and Democracy (VVD) party has 24. The New Social Contract (a Christian democrat, social security protecting group) has 20 seats. D66, an older liberal (centrist) party, took 9 seats. The BBB (Farmer-Citizen Movement,a populist bunch) won 7 with the Chiristian Democrats taking 5. Another 23 seats went to even smaller parties and a handful of independents.
The arithmetic is clear; putting together a government is going to be tricky. Mr. Wilders will have to convince at least 2 of the other big parties to back him. Were the parties that finished second, third and fourth to combine, they would still be 7 seats short of a majority. The last time the Dutch held an election was March 2021. The government finally took office after months of negotiations in mid-December 2021. The math here is no easier. Until Mr. Wilders, or someone else, has 76 votes in the House of Representatives, Mr. Rutte will continue as caretaker Prime Minister.
The rightist populism of Mr. Wilders, and of people like Mr. Orban in Hungary and Donald Trump in America, is troubling. It does not appear to have hit its high-water mark. The future of democracy is clearly in doubt. The Netherlands has been one of the more open and sensible countries since World War II, but one must now call that into question. If a nation that has been a beacon of safety, a nation of security for those most in need of it can fall to the likes of Mr. Wilders, no place is safe and secure as one would like.
© Copyright 2023 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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