Dutch far-right politician and leader of the PVV party Geert Wilders meets with members of his party in the Dutch Parliament after the Dutch general election on November 23, 2023 in The Hague, Netherlands. Portal/Yves Herman/File Purchase photo license rights
AMSTERDAM, Nov 25 (Portal) – Veteran Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders vowed on Saturday to eventually become prime minister of the Netherlands after his party won the most seats in the election.
In a lengthy post on to gain power.
“Today, tomorrow or the day after, the PVV will be part of the government and I will be prime minister of this beautiful country,” Wilders wrote.
Although Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) finished well ahead of its rivals in the vote on an anti-immigrant program on November 22, his party is only expected to win 25% of the seats in the Dutch parliament.
That means he will have to work with at least two more moderate parties to form a government.
On Friday, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party, which shares many of Wilders’ views on immigration, said it would not participate in a cabinet with him.
However, the new leader of the VVD, Dilan Yesilgoz, did not rule out offering outside support to a Wilders government.
Pieter Omtzigt, who leads the centrist reform party NSC and is also seen as a likely partner in a Wilders government, said cooperation would be difficult because of the extreme positions Wilders has expressed, which appear to violate Dutch constitutional protections on religious freedom.
Coalition negotiations in the Netherlands typically last months, and opinions about the parties’ willingness to work together can change over time.
If Wilders is unable to form a government, more centrist combinations excluding the PVV are theoretically possible, while new elections would be the last resort.
Reporting by Toby Sterling; Edited by Christina Fincher
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.
Acquire license rights, opens new tab