Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch far-right PVV Freedom Party, speaks to media representatives after the provisional results of the European Parliament elections were announced on June 6, 2024 in The Hague.
Emile Mulderman | TV Series | Getty Images
Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration party won a landslide victory on Thursday, expected to herald a broader right-wing shift in this week’s European elections.
The Netherlands is the first country to vote on the next European Parliament, with EU-wide results due to be announced later on Sunday.
The latest Dutch exit polls show left-wing Labor and the Greens slightly ahead, with a total of eight parties behind them 31 seats available in the European Parliament. Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) followed with seven seats – a dramatic shift from zero last year. 2019 result.
The results have yet to be finalized and the exit polls had a margin of error of about one seat.
The surge in PVV is indicative of changing political mood in the Netherlands and across the EU, with issues such as immigration, agricultural rights and financial contributions to the bloc increasingly in the spotlight.
Han 10 Brok, director of political affairs at the Center for Strategic Studies in The Hague, said there was no doubt who won Thursday’s vote: “So far, it’s definitely Geert Wilders.”
“Ultimately, this is also a continuation of what we saw in the 2023 national election, when Geert Wilders won,” he told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro on Friday.
Dorien Rookmaker, a Dutch member of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformist group in the European Parliament, agreed, noting that far-right forces have established a stronghold in the increasingly polarized country.
“It’s very clear that the far right is the ultimate winner,” she said.
‘Herald’ for European Parliament results
Some 400 million people across the EU’s 27 member states are eligible to vote for the next 720 members of the European Parliament (MEP), one of the EU’s three core institutions responsible for deciding its laws and budget.
MEPs are elected on a national basis, and national parties come together to form the European Party Group.
The European Parliament has been led by an overwhelming majority of centrist parties in the past, but losses are expected from the governing “super-grand coalition” of the European People’s Party, Socialists and Democrats, and Renew Europe, and The rise of the far right has called this into question.
According to Ten Brok, the results in the Netherlands are indicative of the broader election results on Sunday.
“Geert Wilders’ victory yesterday was very clear and I think it is a precursor to what is going to happen in the coming days when we see the European elections in various member states. The far right deserves a great victory , “He said.
The latest opinion polls show significant victories for the ECR, which includes Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni’s Italian Brotherhood and Poland’s Law and Justice League.
The radical right-wing Identity and Democracy (ID) group, including French politician Marine Le Pen’s Rally National and the Dutch Freedom Party, is also expected to make significant gains.
I think the right wing has a long way to go… people are in insecure times. I think the system is a little too slow for people.
While this is unlikely to upset the balance of power in the hands of the centrist coalition, it could make it harder to secure a majority when it comes to votes on key issues such as Ukraine, defense and the EU’s green agenda.
Ahead of Thursday’s results, Dutch voters in Utrecht, a city about an hour’s drive from the capital Amsterdam, told CNBC the shift reflected broader dissatisfaction with the existing political landscape.
“I think there’s still a long way to go to turn to the right,” one voter told CNBC. “We in the Netherlands have been leaning to the left for a long time compared to other countries. I think people are in a period of insecurity. I think The system is a little too slow for people, and they find more concrete solutions easier.”
Another noted that Wilders’ nationalist party was able to “mobilize” voters in a way that other parties could not.
“A lot of people are not really happy. It’s understandable that they’re unhappy because there’s a lack of housing, there’s poverty, there’s really low trust in government,” they said.
About The Author
