Geert Wilders covers his face with his hands in his office. “Thirty five!” he shouts after the first exit poll is shown on television. The disbelief is visible on the PVV leader’s face in the video he shared on X.
A short time later, in a cafe in Scheveningen, where a last-minute party meeting was held, Wilders already has an explanation for the great success. “The voters spoke and said: We are fed up, we are fed up!”
“The hope of the Netherlands is that the people will get their land back. “Something is being done to counter the asylum tsunami, there is more money in their wallets and healthcare is improving,” he tells his audience.
To achieve this, Wilders will need to form a coalition in the near future. He says he is “completely open” about the makeup of his party. He believes that there should be a government on the right. Because it is not possible to implement the agenda on the left, in which limiting immigration plays an important role.
“We want to work together. Everyone has to jump over their own shadow, including us.” Wilders will take a “reasonable stance”. It will only make recommendations “within the framework of the law and the constitution.” “We will not talk about mosques, the Quran, Islamic schools,” he emphasizes in a softer tone.
“Defend democracy”
You will not find this reassuring at GroenLinks-PvdA in Amsterdam. Fear of a PVV victory prevails here. “Now is the time for us to defend democracy,” party leader Frans Timmermans said in an emotional speech that appeared to prepare him for opposition. “If after tonight you meet someone asking themselves: Do I still belong here? Then say yes openly!”
There is terror and anger in D66, too. While election results are better than polls indicate, combative party leader Rob Jetten warns against Wilders’ extreme ideas behind his “so-called moderate tone”. “The politics of intolerance has become normal, even though it should never be normal.” According to Jetten, VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz “opened the door wide to Wilder” by no longer excluding working with Wilder.
It is obvious that Yeşilgöz sees the issue differently. He does not believe that his campaign has made the PVV the largest party. However, in his opinion, people “did not listen to people enough”. “Not enough practical solutions were offered.” Initially the Liberals held steady at 27 votes in the polls, making them their largest majority ever. Now they are competing with GL-PvdA for second place in the elections with 24 seats.
On Tuesday, Yeşilgöz said that his VVD would not join the cabinet led by Prime Minister Wilders, but he did not want to repeat this now. Now, he says, this statement is based primarily on the expectation that Wilders will not find a majority.
Yeşilgöz says, “The advantage in the lineup is not ours.” Now it’s Wilders’ turn and he still needs to prove that he can find such a majority. The group will first discuss whether VVD belongs to it or not.
One person who wants to be there is Caroline van der Plas from the BBB. He is happy with the seven seats his party won in the exit poll. “We’re just going with it. “I am 100 percent sure that we will be in the coalition,” she said. BBB is the largest party in the Senate and this could be important for the new cabinet.
NSC wants to rule but it won’t be easy
There is great relief at the NSC, which has just arrived in Enschede. The polls have fallen slightly in the last few days, but in the election poll Pieter Omtzigt’s party is ahead by twenty seats. “It’s a great result,” he says. “Is this position somewhere else? “It will be in The Hague in the coming years.” And he wants to rule the country. “We are ready to implement trust. But it won’t be easy.”
The question also arises whether cooperation with PVV is possible in the NSC. Omtzigt did not mention Wilders’ party in his speech. During the election campaign, he described the PVV’s positions as unconstitutional, but never gave a clear answer to the question of whether he, too, had expelled the party.
The former coalition parties, including the CDA and Christian Union, all suffered significant losses. In terms of content, they compete primarily with the NSC, which is openly based on Christian Democratic ideas.
Mirjam Bikker, president of the Christian Union, wants to remain true to her faith: “Christian, socio-political, rooted in hope, seeking peace, defending the rule of law.” The PVV’s victory worries him in this context.
The CDA, which once had 54 seats, appears to have five seats left. Nevertheless, the new party leader, Henri Bontenbal, received great applause at the party meeting. In this applause, he feels the “enthusiasm” he feels for his lesson. “This is not the end. “We will be back,” he says.
Source: NOS
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
