04/03/2010 11:31
Early results from Dutch local elections on Wednesday night indicated that the far-right anti-immigration party of Geert Wilders was on course to make big gains in a closely watched vote ahead of a general election in June.
Mr Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) made banning headscarves from local council offices its main campaign pledge, but only fielded candidates in two municipalities. However, a new opinion poll coinciding with the vote indicated the party was poised to grow significantly in parliament.
The local elections have taken on a national dimension since the ruling Christian Democrat-Labour coalition government collapsed a fortnight ago after disagreeing about prolonging the Dutch military presence in Afghanistan beyond August.
The PVV was only on ballot papers in The Hague and Almere, a northern town built on land reclaimed from the sea in the 1970s. With 50 per cent of the vote counted in The Hague, the PVV had won almost a fifth of ballots counted, second only to the Labour party. Early returns from Almere indicated the PVV would be the biggest single party there.
”This is an enormous breakthrough,” Sietse Fritsma, the leading PVV candidate in The Hague told cheering supporters in a café. ”This is going to drive established politics completely crazy ... Very many citizens of The Hague have chosen for safety, for lower taxes, for better elderly care and against Islamisation.”
Mr Wilders has called for an immediate stop to immigration from Muslim countries, the banning of mosque construction and a €1,000 a year tax on Muslim women who wear headscarves.
An opinion poll for Dutch broadcaster NOS on voting intentions for the general election on June 9 predicted that the PVV would win 24 of the 150 seats in parliament, up from the nine it had currently. That would put it in third place behind the Christian Democrats and Labour, who are forecast to win 29 and 27 seats respectively, and make it a key figure in coalition building after the vote.
While the PVV gains reflect a rightward drift in Dutch politics that started with the anti-immigration and anti-Islam politics of Pim Fortuyn, who was murdered in 2002, the early results and opinion poll also forecast significant gains for two mainstream, left-of-centre parties, D66 and Green Left, who have taken votes from the big parties.
”We have to stop this country getting more polarised, not only between ethnic groups but also between generations,” Alexander Pechtold, leader of D66, said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
Mr Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) made banning headscarves from local council offices its main campaign pledge, but only fielded candidates in two municipalities. However, a new opinion poll coinciding with the vote indicated the party was poised to grow significantly in parliament.
The local elections have taken on a national dimension since the ruling Christian Democrat-Labour coalition government collapsed a fortnight ago after disagreeing about prolonging the Dutch military presence in Afghanistan beyond August.
The PVV was only on ballot papers in The Hague and Almere, a northern town built on land reclaimed from the sea in the 1970s. With 50 per cent of the vote counted in The Hague, the PVV had won almost a fifth of ballots counted, second only to the Labour party. Early returns from Almere indicated the PVV would be the biggest single party there.
”This is an enormous breakthrough,” Sietse Fritsma, the leading PVV candidate in The Hague told cheering supporters in a café. ”This is going to drive established politics completely crazy ... Very many citizens of The Hague have chosen for safety, for lower taxes, for better elderly care and against Islamisation.”
Mr Wilders has called for an immediate stop to immigration from Muslim countries, the banning of mosque construction and a €1,000 a year tax on Muslim women who wear headscarves.
An opinion poll for Dutch broadcaster NOS on voting intentions for the general election on June 9 predicted that the PVV would win 24 of the 150 seats in parliament, up from the nine it had currently. That would put it in third place behind the Christian Democrats and Labour, who are forecast to win 29 and 27 seats respectively, and make it a key figure in coalition building after the vote.
While the PVV gains reflect a rightward drift in Dutch politics that started with the anti-immigration and anti-Islam politics of Pim Fortuyn, who was murdered in 2002, the early results and opinion poll also forecast significant gains for two mainstream, left-of-centre parties, D66 and Green Left, who have taken votes from the big parties.
”We have to stop this country getting more polarised, not only between ethnic groups but also between generations,” Alexander Pechtold, leader of D66, said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
Related Articles
LATEST NEWS
24/04