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Impact of Geert Wilders' Victory in Dutch Election

Written by  Voice of Indonesia
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Geert Wilders. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Wouter Engler)

The victory of the far-right party - Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) or the Party for Freedom led by Geert Wilders in the Dutch election on November 22, 2023 left people flabbergasted. PVV was ensured to have 37 of 150 chairs of the Dutch House of Representatives. The party was led by the controversial senior politician Geert Wilders who was known for his racist and anti-Islam statements.

Previously, this party got an absolute victory in the 2006 Dutch election. And their victory this time brought PVV as the biggest party in the new formation of the Dutch House of Representatives. PVV successfully stole the Dutch voters' sympathy with immigration and asylum issues. Europe, including the Netherlands, has been flooded by immigrants and asylum seekers from conflict-stricken countries. This made the people unrest, so it was not that surprising if Wilders and PVV got tons of support.

 

The election result ended the era of Prime Minister Mark Rutte from the liberal VVD party, which had administration from 2010 until 2023 with a right populist "rebellion" that hit the Dutch parliament landscape down to its foundation.

 

Geert Wilders was a member of the VVD party as well as Mark Rutte's teacher. He quit in 2004 because of disagreement against the party's policy and then founded PVV on February 22, 2006. Geert Wilders was known to receive serious threats following his anti-immigrant and anti-Islam hate speech.

 

Although Wilders toned it down ahead of the election in November 2022, he did not bury the PVV programs like referendum to exit the European Union or NExt, and tight immigration and asylum policies.

 

Wilders' victory sparked worry in the Netherlands. Islamic organizations had expressed their concern. Some Dutch NGOs also had demonstrations protesting PVV's win in big cities such as Amsterdam and Utrecht. Even more, the European Union had expressed similar concern over Wilders' triumph.

 

The next stage after the election is forming the Dutch's new government coalition. The last election made the process utterly complicated. Despite dominating, Wilders must cooperate with at least two other parties to form the government. The left parties were obviously reluctant to join Wilders' coalition. The right-wing needed to rack their brains in forming a coalition after Mark Rutte's VVD rejected their offer.

 

For Indonesia with a majority Muslim population, Geerd Wilders' victory is worrying. Despite being known to have a root in the former Dutch Indies or Indonesia (father is Dutch, mother was born in Sukabumi, West Java). It was worried that the anti-Islam attitude would badly affect the relations of the two nations that shared a long history.

Read 189 times Last modified on Wednesday, 29 November 2023 13:47