Courtesy of Mish.
The nannycrats in Brussels face yet another attack on the anti-immigration front: Geert Wilders’ Far-Right Party Tops Polls in the Netherlands.
Geert Wilders, chairman of the Party for Freedom (PVV), has been celebrating on Twitter today. The reason? His party is now the biggest party in the Dutch polls. With elections coming up in March 2017, the populist politician seems to be on track to become the Netherlands’ next prime minister.
According to the latest poll of Maurice de Hond, the Netherlands’ most famous pollster, the PVV would become the biggest party in parliament if elections were held today they’d get 33 seats in the 150-seat lower chamber.
Wilders is especially well-known for his criticism of Islam and Europe’s open-borders policy, which he routinely — and accurately — describes as suicidal. His main goal is to end “the Islamization” of Europe generally and of the Netherlands specifically.
Additionally, Wilders and his party are the most Eurosceptic of all the parties currently in parliament. He is the Netherlands’ very own Nigel Farage, which he once again proved earlier this year when he and his allies won the Dutch referendum on the EU’s upcoming treaty with Ukraine. Wilders campaigned hard against the deal, arguing that it would eventually lead to the poor (and not entirely democratic) Eastern European country joining the European Union. Although proponents of the treaty said that would not be the case, the Dutch voter wasn’t convinced. Wilders and the “no” campaign won.
Poll Results
Above results from Wikipedia: Dutch General Election Polls.
- Since October, PPV is in a range of 21 to 33
- Since October, VVD is in a range of 25 to 30
- Since October, PvdA is in a range of 9 to 18
- Since July, PPV ranged from 21 to 36
- Since July, VVD ranged from 21 to 30.
- Since July, PvdA ranged from 9 to 19
These results are so volatile and polls in general have been so inaccurate it is difficult to assess.
That said, volatility now appears to be between Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration PVV, and Diederik Samsom’s Labour Party PvdA, with PVV having clear momentum.
The election is planned for March 15, 2017
Current Setup
The 2012 elections saw the Labour Party (PvdA) and People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) go head-to-head for the position of prime minister, gathering enough seats in the process to form an absolute majority. The VVD’s Mark Rutte formed a coalition government with the PvdA, ousting the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) from government, while the Party for Freedom (PVV) went back to full opposition.
