In light of the political shift towards the far right, Geert Wilders, the anti-Islam populist, achieved a huge victory in the Dutch elections

The Hague, Netherlands (AFP) – Anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders The Conservative Party won a landslide victory in the Dutch election, according to a nearly complete vote count early Thursday, in a stunning shift toward the far right for a country once famous as a beacon of tolerance.

The result will send shockwaves across Europe, where far-right ideology is on the rise, and puts Wilders in line to lead talks to form the next government. Ruling coalition He may become the first far-right prime minister of the Netherlands.

With almost all the votes counted, Wilders’ Party for Freedom is expected to win 37 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, two more than the poll predicted when voting ended on Wednesday evening, and more than double the 17 seats it won in the election. The last elections.

“I had to squeeze my arm,” said a delighted Wilders.

Political parties are scheduled to hold separate meetings on Thursday to discuss the outcome before the likely arduous process of forming a new ruling coalition begins on Friday.

Despite his harsh rhetoric, Wilders has already begun courting other right- and center-right parties by saying in his victory speech that any policies he pushes will be “within the framework of the law and the constitution.”

Wilders’ election program included calls for a referendum on the Netherlands’ exit from the European Union, a complete halt to accepting asylum seekers and the return of migrants at the Dutch border.

It also calls for the “de-Islamization” of the Netherlands. He says he does not want to establish mosques or Islamic schools in the country, although he has been more moderate on Islam during this election campaign than in the past.

Instead, his victory appears to depend on his campaign to rein in immigration – the issue that caused the last ruling coalition to resign in July – and address issues such as the cost of living crisis and housing shortages.

“I think, frankly, a lot of people are too focused on one particular problem, which is immigration,” voter Norbert van Bellen said in The Hague on Thursday morning. “So I think that’s what people voted for, immigration and all the other aspects of leaving the EU have been forgotten and looking inward rather than outward. “It’s all about immigration.”

Wilders said in his victory speech that he wanted to end what he called the “asylum tsunami,” referring to refugees. Immigration issue Which came to dominate his campaign.

“The Dutch will be No. 1 again,” Wilders said. “The people must reclaim their nation.”

But Wilders, who has been described in the past as the Dutch version of Donald Trump, must first form a coalition government before he can take the reins of power.

This will be difficult because the major parties are reluctant to join him and his party, but the scale of his victory strengthens his position in any negotiations.

Wilders called on other parties to participate constructively in the coalition talks. Peter OmtzigtA former centrist Christian Democrat who founded his New Social Contract Party in three months to hold 20 seats, he said he would always be open to talks.

The closest party to Wilders in the elections was the alliance of the centre-left Labor Party and the Green Left Party, which was expected to win 25 seats. But its leader, Frans Timmermans, made it clear that Wilders should not rely on an alliance with him.

“We will never form a coalition with parties that pretend that asylum seekers are the source of all misery,” Timmermans said, vowing to defend Dutch democracy.

This historic victory came one year after the victory of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose brothers’ roots in Italy were steeped in nostalgia for the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Since then, Meloni has softened her stance on many issues and has become the accepted face of the EU’s far right.

Wilders was for a long time controversial, attacking Islam, the European Union and immigrants, a position that brought him close to power but never reached it, in a country known for its policies of compromise.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who boasts of turning Hungary into an “illiberal” state and has similarly harsh positions on immigration and EU institutions, was quick to congratulate Wilders. “The winds of change are coming! Congratulations,” Orbán said.

During the final weeks of his election campaign, Wilders softened his stance somewhat and pledged that he would be a prime minister for all the Dutch people, to the point where he earned the nickname Geert “Milders”.

The elections were called in the name of the fourth and final coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte He resigned in July After failing to agree on measures to curb migration.

Rutte was replaced by Dilan Yeşilgoz Zegerius, a former refugee from Turkey who would have become the country’s first female prime minister had her party won the most votes. Instead, he was expected to lose 10 seats and eventually gain 24 seats.

The result is the latest in a series of elections that are changing the European political landscape. From Slovakia and Spain to Germany and Poland, populist and far-right parties have triumphed in some EU member states and failed in others.

In The Hague on Thursday morning, Dutch voter Barbara Bilder said Wilders’ victory “is a very clear sign that the Netherlands wants something different.”

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Casert reported from Brussels.