The Dutch pushed back against Geert Wilders’s ‘Patriotic Spring.’
In the Netherlands, the conservative, pro-market Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) led by incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte won 21 percent of the votes in Wednesday’s election, more than any of the other 27 parties on the ballot.
VVD benefited from an upswing in the polls after the prime minister took a tough stance on Turkey last weekend. On March 11, the Dutch government blocked two Turkish ministers from attending a Rotterdam rally, a move that resulted in police clashes with protesting Turkish minority groups.
In a campaign dominated by issues of immigration, integration, and identity, Rutte showed his willingness to stand up to the backlash from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who countered the diplomatic slight of the Turkish ministers by accusing the Dutch of permitting the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnians.
The anti-European Union, anti-Muslim, nationalist “Dutch Trump” Geert Wilders and his Party of Freedom (PPV) received 13 percent, a distant second place. As in previous elections, Wilders fell short, and is not in a position to implement any of his controversial policies.
What happens now?
In the Netherlands, electing the 150-member parliament is only the first step. The Dutch proportional representation system allocates seats according to the national vote. The character of the next government of the Netherlands is still not known.
With no party claiming a majority, the second step in deciding who leads the country could take a few months. Parliament must now negotiate to form a coalition government that can claim a majority of at least 75 seats.
With 94 percent of the votes counted, only 13 parties earned enough votes to claim seats in Parliament. Seven of these parties received more than five seats. While the official results won’t be announced until March 21, Figure 1 below shows the anticipated changes in the Dutch Parliament.
What does a coalition look like?
In multiparty countries, the absence of a clear majority winner means parties bargain over policy and government positions until a coalition emerges that can earn the support of a majority in Parliament. In the Netherlands, once that bargaining is done, a more formal coalition agreement then names the prime minister and cabinet, which then draws up the Government’s Statement of policy priorities.
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