Over the course of the past year, the political story has been the rise of far-right nationalism in America and Europe. Brexit could be (and was) interpreted as a victory for isolationism, nationalism and far-right “populism.” Then there was the election of an unhinged fascist named Donald Trump. In 2017, the focus is on several key European elections to see if the rise of nativism and jingoism are truly on the march. I’ve been focused on Marine le Pen’s chances for the French presidency, and her promise to drag France out of the EU in what’s being called the “Frexit.” I’ve also been focused on Angela Merkel’s re-election in Germany. But this week, I found myself paying attention to the Dutch election too.
In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders was the far-right, nativist, Dutch-version of Donald Trump. Wilders even ran on a platform of (I sh-t you not) Make the Netherlands Great Again. That should tell you something. Even his hair seems as crazy as Donald Trump’s busted weave. Wilders ran on open Islamophobia, closing the borders to Muslims, and pulling the Netherlands out of the EU (Nexit? Dutexit?). He had a lot of support in the Deplorable political class here in America, and the American right was salivating at the thought that Wilders would win. Wilders even had an “in” with Steve Bannon. Well, long story short… Wilders did not win.
With more than 95 per cent of the votes counted, the anti-Islam, anti-EU candidate claimed just 20 seats in the Dutch lower house, well short of centre-right candidate and prime minister Mark Rutte who won 33 seats. The result will shock many who felt a sweeping tide of populism across Europe could see the Freedom Party’s candidate go close to winning the popular vote. But when it comes to populist politics in Europe, each candidate, each country, each political system is different.
The Brexit result, the election of President Donald Trump and the rise of Marine Le Pen in France somehow did not make Mr Wilders’s success inevitable. He faced challenges (some self-imposed, others not) that were unique to his situation.
From November onwards Mr Wilders led in most of the polls. Dutch voters who considered his policies to be too extreme were in no doubt that he posed a serious threat. In the US election there were Hillary-haters on the left who stayed at home and did not vote because they thought Donald Trump could not win. In the UK younger voters who were in favour of remaining in the EU were more likely to stay at home than older Brexiters who came out in force. In the Dutch election about 80 per cent of citizens cast a vote. Some polling stations stayed open after normal closing times to deal with the queues. A number of voters I spoke to were adamant they were motivated by a desire to make sure the Freedom Party’s candidate did not win.
Dutch voters are being commended around the world for recognizing fascism when they see it, and for rejecting it when they see it. It’s my hope that Wilders’ loss means that the march of fascism has been stopped, or at least delayed indefinitely. Dutch voters, well done! But still… I’m worried about the German and French elections.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I am so worried too. The french élection campaign is apalling.
Isn’t Macron the guy to beat now? Loony Le Pen seems to have faded.
You know, one good thing has come out of Brexit and Trump; it’s given a big kick up the pants to voters who thought “they’re all just as bad as each other” and didn’t bother. Getting in by default because voters were apathetic is much less likely now.
I don’t know of course but I don’t believe in macron’s apparent success. He is the establishment candidate. Fillon and hamon are Dead in the water. A lot of people are disgusted (myself included) and I think many are not going to vote because we french are way way past the anti fascist vote. We’re doing That since 2002 and it only allowed the others to be more and more médiocre.
Le pen have not faded at all, she didn’t even begin to really campaign because the others are so ridiculous she doesn’t need too I guess. This Is scary.
@Babs
Sorry but if you don’t vote (either way), change is not going to happen by itself.
Worse, all LePen supporters will indeed to go to vote and then you will be stuck with a fascist in chief as we are in UK and USA.
I’m sure you don’t want to see France in the gutter as we are going down that path already in UK.
Yikes that’s depressing. I’m not French so I haven’t been following closely but I really thought Le Pen was fading. You’re right though that France has voted in the past just to keep Le Pen out, not because they really supported the alternative. That’s what happened with Chirac right? Everyone freaked out and voted for him when Le Pen senior came second? So perhaps French voters are tired of doing that now… I hope not because the alternative, the NF seems crazy. Good luck!
Yes, that’s what happened in 2002 and many times after That, for other élections. The anti fascist rhethoric is sadly way tired now.
Yes, we are tired of doing what we call the “vote de barrage”, which means to vote for someone we really don’t share ideas with just to avoid that someone worse is elected. It’s anti-democratic and soul-crushing.
I know a lot of people who are not going to vote because they are really fedup, and abstention is the only way of saying we don’t want this system anymore. And on social media, I see more and more people who write they are going to abstain or to put in a blank vote.
And although I’m terrified by the possible outcome of the election, I’m not going to vote either.
I feel You. I’m going to blank vote, maybe poutou at first round if he makes it. But overall I’m in f it mode.
I had a question for you lovelies, isn’t absent voting and thus allowing a right wing madwoman to take control just shooting yourself in the foot and creating a Trump situation?
I am asking because well I want to understand. I get not wanting to vote just to keep someone out, but you don’t have many options and a blank vote will not change the system, it will just allow a dangerous person to control the system so where is the logic? r is Is there nothing good about the other parties that could catch your vote?
No, there’s not. Like I said, the rhetoric You are using in your post gets no more play here. We’ve been doing Just That since 2002 and it only strenghtened the far right and enabled the mediocrity and corruption in the big parties. So now here we are.
I think Belgium has been doing that since the nineties with Vlaams blok/Vlaams belang and it seems to be working.
@Lilas… and @Babs
voting is a civic duty…to which here goes… unless mother theresa runs in perfect perfection, politicians are politicians. You hope there is some type of dignity, however they are cunning and not always 100% awesome. That being said you guys are SETTING YOURSELF up to have a donald trump seriously…. that not voting ish is for the birds….then you end up crying harder…. get out and vote, non one deserves a trump – like candidate.
You know what Is sure not changing the system? A vote for a corrupted candidate. Belgians vote as they see fit, I’ll do the same. A blank vote is a vote btw.
@Babs
A corrupted candidate will always be better than a fascist. And this comes from someone who had to endure Silvio Berlusconi for years.
Yet, I wouldn’t change the Berlusca for Trump, sorry NO.
Silverunicorn, did You vote for Berlusconi though?
I am a left wing voter. I went in the streets against Macron law since about two years now. Socialist party whom I contributed to elect betrayed us the worst way. I won’t end up voting for them in any case. I don’t vote for the right wing either. I compromised in the past, I am not doing it any longer. We probably won’t be in That shit now if we started not compromising in 2002. I don’t know, neither do you. Think what you want about my blank vote or my vote for a little candidate, I am still going to do Just That knowing exactly why.
Babs perfectly explained the situation. We have repeatedly done the “anti-vote” and it had landed us in this unbelievable mess.
I don’t want to play this game anymore. I know it may be difficult to understand, especially from an American point of view since Trump was elected, but if we keep practicing the “anti-vote’, nothing will ever change and the problem of Marine Le Pen will rise again in 2022, and in 2027, etc. Plus I would like our ballot system to be altered : I want abstention rate and blank votes to be accounted for in the final results.
And yes I know the risk. And I’m ready to spend the next five years marching in the streets (something we are good at in France anyway ^^) to fight for my rights as a woman and for the rights of other people who are non-white, non-French, non-hetero if it proves necessary.
Let me guess, you are white women and your circumstances will not change much if Le Pen or another candidate wins. You should talk to muslims, Mexicans and poor women in this country and ask them if they’d rather have Hillary or be marching in streets for 4 years while their rights disappear and they are harassed. Allowing LePen to win sends a message all over Western Europe and the US that white nationalism is on the rise and their cause is just. I just can’t with this Susan Sarandon level bs.
I am a white woman and my circumstances Will change deeply if le pen is elected. It’s not america here. White nationalism is on the rise and a vote for effin macron or the likes ain’t going to change That, sorry to burst any bubble. I discuss with a lot of muslim people because I work in our beautiful health system which our current so called left Wing achieved to break and sell, btw. Most aren’t registered. Their rights are attacked since years of republicanism, women’s especially with the veil laws. A vote for Fillon the thief ain’t going to change That. Actually it’s nothing but white hypocrisy to soothe our consciences with That kind of vote which, I say it again, only strenghtens the “other side” without solvingg any problem. Insulting people ain’t going to change That. My vote Will probably not change That either, honestly. But it sends the message I want to send to my country and that’s the purpose of the Whole thing.
Everyone’s circumstances will change if Le Pen is elected. The same if Fillon is. Honestly I think we are screwed either way. And we are so because we have played their game for far too long.
And again, if we keep playing the game they want us to play, that is to say practising the antivote to ensure the candidate who stands against Le Pen is elected, nothing will ever change and the far right-wing problem will come back stronger in the next elections.
I think one should always vote. Elections are the time we have a voice.
Here in Australia, voting is compulsory. I’m guessing some people who hate all the candidates would write something offensive or mess up their paper in another way so it doesn’t count, but I think the government hopes that once you’re standing there you will make a choice.
I was disappointed in Brexit. I was happy to see Nexit didn’t happen. People in France, please vote!
I’m with you Kaiser, well done Netherlands. I’m glad they took a stand against hate. Take note Germany and France. Never forget Naziism.
On another note, this guy creeps me out with his Christoper Walken look. (shiver)
I expect Germany to be ok but France seems like a serious wildcard. Le Pen is getting troves of money from Vladdie.
So what who funded her campaign? Nooone in Europe would.
Leftism/ globalism has been well and truly rumbled and is now dying or at least approaching its death rattle.
This is the natural recurring pattern. It will be close in the second stage but she might just take it.
Germay’s doing better than the Netherlands actually. The afd has no chance of getting anywhere near winning the election and no party would form a coalition with them. It’s more a question of centre to centre right Merkel or moderate left Schulz.
Wilders was part of a coalition in 2010 and the main reason why the conservatives* would not do that again is the fact that his party is super unreliable because it’s essentially a one-man show.
Dutch conservatives have been pushed to the right in the last ten years. That’s one main problem caused by right wing parties that is rarely being discussed.
i heard from a friend that apart from his jingoisms, Mr Wild Hair really cannot give anything concrete when asked about economy etc while Rutte’s administration was able to restore some economic stability to the country. so that’s also a reason why they feel like they shouldn’t gamble away their future.
after the clusterfcuk with Trump’s America they’re rightly worried. jingoism unfortunately won’t bring food to the table, immigrant or no immigrant. the Netherlands have also been very anti fascism, and their Queens have always been badass about it, so there’s a lot of goodwill there too.
my friend said, her grandmother actually asked “what would Wilhelmina think if you vote for this pig?” while handing out some Wilhelmina peppermints. pragmatism and rationality, was what her grandmother meant apparently, rather than be swayed by the empty promises of fascism.
Well would you look at that. Wilders can’t give concrete plans and ideas, so the people said no thanks. 45 talks in circles/plays mad libs and he was elected.
Honestly, hold steady. 10% of 74% of voters said yes to Wilders in 2012. 13% of 82% of voters said yes to him in 2017.
Disaster averted? Yes. Direction of rightwards travel reversed? No. The opposite.
As a Dutch woman, completely agreed Sixer. The husband and I were talking about this yesterday. We think that what Wilders lost in this elections is the media’s narrative of him being a winner and the voice of the dissenfranchised voters. He won seats, he has the second party in he country, but he lost, because narrative and framing these days is everything and to keep the narrative of winning in the media going he needed to be bigger than he is now. Also, he had everything going for him, so the thinking is that even with all the odds in his favor this is the max for him.
Wilma – yes. You have to hope he’s reached his ceiling, don’t you?
Actually, I don’t think he necessarily has, but these days it seems more important that the narrative is that he has?
Wilders winning was a long shot. He landed second, which in his book is a victory.
What he actually ACHIEVED is to push Rutte’s Party to the right on Immigration policy. And made the next goverment a coalition of at least 4! parties. Good luck with that. It’s too early to party.
“Eighty percent of Dutch citizens cast a vote” I don’t think it has ever been even close to that number of citizens in the US or Canada who vote in elections. Some people here treat voting like they are going to the dentist for a root canal.
I know! 80%!
good for them 🙂
That’s partly because of the concerted effort to make voting more difficult in certain parts of the country. I hate the fact that i don’t have access to online or early voting. Besides that I have it pretty good in my state. If i had to jump through some of the hoops that other citizens do to vote, I would dread it too.
That’s very true. The GOP has been actively working to make voting less accessible for years now.
You are spot-on about the way many US citizens treat their voting rights.
Yes, voting is very easy here though we do need to bring an id to the polling station. Everyone with the Dutch nationality is automatically registered to vote. Your municipality will send you your voting card a month before elections and polling stations are everywhere. There were four polling stations within 500 metres yesterday and when I went to the nearest I didn’t need to wait.
I’m also a huge fan of the polling stations in the big commuter train stations. Catching people where we can! And the weather helped by not discouraging people from going out.
Mostly though I think the past year shook up a lot of people and the message that continuity was not guaranteed has been solidly received by 82% of voters.
I’m in Poland and voting here is extremely easy – you’re registered automatically once you have an address and all you have to do it show up to the polling station with an ID, sign your name on the list and vote (always paper and pen, no blackbox voting) . The town posts notices with polling stations addresses and areas they cover (our home administrator also sends emails reminding everyone where the polling station is) – I never had to stand in line even though in my area, over 85% people vote (we have a young, vibrant community). Additionally, voting is ALWAYS on Sundays so it doesn’t interfere with work for most people.
Which I don’t understand AT ALL.
I love voting. It’s so exciting.
Agreed! I get nearly giddy.
My q was a’d.
That’s uplifting
Great job, Netherlands! 80% of the citizenry voted, how amazing! I am going to Amsterdam in 3 weeks and this makes me happy! I too am worried about Germany and France, and I hope that Marine Le Pen is not elected. I also hope that Nicola Sturgeon can get Scotland free from Brexit..
I wouldn’t worry too much about Germany. It’s very likely that the AfD will reach the double digits and that is frightening, yes. But they will not be part of the government unless some unforeseen event obliterates the rest. Never say never but our system is very different than France’s for example.
I hope and pray that my fellow Germans will come out in droves to vote because I honestly do not think that the majority of voters here, in the Netherlands, in France, or in Britain (etc.) truly support far-right ideas. It’s a matter of laziness on election day and laziness re being well-informed. And if our established parties hadn’t f*cking slept through most of the past 10 years, maybe the AfD wouldn’t exist today. I’m still pi**ed at them for dropping the ball like that. It’s time to wake up. I
I don’t think these far-right parties will go anywhere soon but let’s not just accept their success as inevitable.
“I also hope that Nicola Sturgeon can get Scotland free from Brexit.”
Me too.
It’s a huge relief.
That said, the story behind the result is that the far right vote increased significantly, the centre right has been pushed much further right – particularly anti-immigrant right – by the campaign so the new normal is now much further right than it was, and the centre left was decimated as it is being throughout Europe. Their equivalent of the Democrats lost three quarters of their seats. The good news is that the Greens did brilliantly.
So relief but not celebration, I think.
Flavia Dzodan is well worth following on Twitter about Dutch politics.
Very true – now to the French election which has become a farce with all the fraud accusations against just about everyone who is running.
I like to think that our brothers/sisters in the EU mainland saw the mistake we made with Brexit which was caused by the far right and their anti-immigration rhetoric, even thou they won a lot of seats but the fight against it continues. I just hope the EU as an institution follows through on their promise to change, however am not sure a United States of Europe is the way to go.
Yeah, I think people are seeing the clusterfuck going on with Brexit and going ‘On second thought, let’s stay’.
Though TBH I never seriously thought we’d come close to leaving the EU. We’re a small, trade dependent country. Nobody who has seriously thought about it thinks we can make it alone. Where the UK has a kind of communal Empire-hangover (‘We were special! We should be special again!’) that can be manipulated with jingoism and lies, I think most Dutch people are pretty pragmatic about our significance in the bigger picture.
You’re right about empire nostalgia fuelling exceptionalism and then fuelling nationalism, Anne. As a Britisher, I wish it weren’t so.
wow, i check ms Dzodan twitter, and it puts it into perspective. it’s like, could have been worse but it’s really not that great either.
Exactly. It’s a multi-party system so hard to compare with two party systems like the US and UK, or binary referendum choices like Brexit.
The Dutch didn’t succumb to the authoritarian populist tsunami, but the truth is that the party who won the most seats, a centre right party, has shifted TOWARDS the Wilders agenda, not AWAY from it.
ell – it’s really worth making the effort to read Dzodan’s recent pieces on big data and the like of Cambridge Analytica, which connects all these alt-right movements internationally and may have been instrumental in both Trump and Brexit victories. These people are organised. They have a plan.
@Sixer do you have a link?
Go to:
redlightpolitics DOT info FORWARD SLASH tagged FORWARD SLASH Big-Data
“So relief but not celebration” puts it perfectly.
And I think, compared to the German situation, this anti-migration atmosphere in the Netherlands is more drastic, actually. The German extrem right-wing party AfD will probably not end up with more than 15% (which is terrible enough) and the parties at the center (CDU/ SPD) did not move much more to the right, but are even taking up more “leftist” social inequality concerns again (except in Bavaria…).
Exactly Sixer.
I’m Dutch, but haven’t lived there for 10 years. When I still lived there, the VVD (the party that has won the majority of seats in Parliament) was considered pretty far right of centre.
As a Green voter, it was a strange sensation to feel relief at their win yesterday – a bit like being pleased with a Tory win over UKIP. It’s better, yes, but hardly cause for celebration….
In the Dutch landscape, I would also be a Green voter! Yes, it’s exactly like a Tory win over UKIP, isn’t it? And the routing of the PvdA – that has to be concerning.
Yes, it is sad that the PvdA lost so much. I used to be a member (from being in the youth party up until 3 years ago), but I voted Green this time. I left the PvdA over some of their proposals that leaned towards PVV rhetoric, but I still miss them and am very sad about their loss.
I also feel sad for PvdA’s great loss, also mirroring exactly Labour’s turmoil – it’s bizarre how many parallels there are. I’m happy for Green but wonder how much influence their 16 seats will have.
Also – I meant to say Sixer, I’m always so amazed by your political knowledge of so many countries. Are you just really interested ih politics or do you do something politically involved for a living? You don’t’t have to answer if you’d rather not, I am just super curious!
I was a UK Labour voter until Iraq, Wilma. And have voted as best I can tactically since then. Harder for us here to do that though, with the first past the post, largely two party system. It’s a shame Corbyn has turned out to be such an inept political operator because I could have got behind his policy direction and gone back to Labour had he been in the least bit competent.
Sophie – no, just a political geek! And an internationalist, so what other countries do better and worse than the UK is very interesting to me, you know? I work in publishing – fiction. Mind you, the world feels like a dystopian novel right at the moment, doesn’t it?!
That’s cool. I like to try and stay up to day on politics but find it so overwhelming/depressing currently that I don’t read half as much as I should. We get The Week each week (funny that), so I can always cheat my way to knowledge when I need to.. 😉
I get most of it via social media, to be honest. I’d rather know what, say, Americans are thinking about Trump and what the actual detail of policies mean for average people and how the system works by talking to Celebitches than reading it through the prism of British journalism. And, since the rest of the world puts the Anglosphere to shame vis a vis languages, it’s easy to find knowledgeable, interesting people from most countries on forums or Twitter or Facebook and talk to them.
I know social media has some terrible downsides but it’s really been transformational for me.
Hmmm I’m not quite sure if the comparison between PvdA and the Democrats is true, Rutte’s VVD (D for democracy) party has more in common with them in my opinion. Ruute and Obama were extremely fond if eachother, and that’s partly because they had so much in common. PvdA would be more like Sanders, or UKs Labour. They are socialists.
I know, sorry. It’s tricky on a US board because what is liberal/soft left in American politics is probably centre right to most Europeans in multi-party systems.
No need to apologise, I just think it’s cool that it is discussed here 🙂
I’m thrilled that so many people realised that low turnouts can mean upsetting results like in the US and UK and didn’t take the right to vote for granted. 82% voted, so awesome. Hopefully other countries take that lesson from it too.
this worried me so much, so i’m happy it was avoided. it’s so scary to see all these nationalist and fascists parties finding so much support, and hopefully people are opening their eyes to the fact this is no joke. they have to vote and do something, otherwise you’ll end up with leaders who support ideologies founded on intolerance, xenophobia and racism.
i voted no in the brexit referendum, i felt it was my right and my duty to do so, but even i admit to feeling very complacent before. i was sure that the leavers were a minority (and tbf since i live in the london area, they were a minority), and look at us now. the worst is that contrary to the US where you can vote trump out in 4 years, in britain we’re done. there is no going back.
@elf – pretty much. The Queen signed our death warrant this morning.
Ell, personally I think it’s only a matter of time as to when there’s another ref because so many over 50’s voted Leave. In 10 or 20 yrs – depending on the after effects which will take years – those people will be gone, and it’s likely public opinion will go the other way.
The theory is this whole wave of right wing populism is a direct result of the crash in 2007. This happened in the 70’s and 80’s just not to the same extent.
Becky – I completely agree that if we could single out the most significant cause of the rise of the right currently, it would be the failure of the political establishment to a) foresee and b) justly deal with, the financial crash of 07/08.
I read some articles on brexit. Huge numbers of working class people voted to leave. The home counties did too. I dont think it was just old people. Why did this happen. Sorry if this does not makes sence. English is my second language
Zara, more data has been published about the ref results, and it turns out social class was not a deciding factor, but other issues like educational attainment. Those who voted Leave were less likely to have a degree (also why they were more likely to be older), and the biggest correlation was capital punishment: those who agree with the death penalty also voted Leave.
Also turnout; 90% of over 50’s voted, going down to 64% of 18-24 yr olds.
Summary of the data is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38762034
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/36803544
Is the two linked? Working class less likely too have degree? Globalisation mixed with rise of automation has biggest affect on the working class. Sorry if my English is not the best.
Zara, I’m not an expert in statistics but it would appear so yes. The first article is highlighting more of a difference in values to explain the vote, not social class, education etc.
Thank you Dutch voters!
We need that kind of turn out everywhere- people realizing their vote does matter, the outcome will affect them, and that they can’t sit it out anymore.
Brexit is a cautionary tale, tbh. Everyone is looking at the shambles of Britain and wisely (hopefully) going the other way. The Queen as signed off on Article 50, and I think her Kingdom with it, because I can’t see the Union staying together through two years of Brexit negotiations, especially since May and co don’t have a clue of what they’re doing.
Dodgy, reading about David Davis’ clueless answers at the committee yesterday was worrying.
Becky… my jaw dropped to the floor. And then I got mad at Corbyn for just… being an accomplice to May’s plans of triggering article 50, when you know, you KNOW that politicians gossip with each other and would have known that Davis and co didn’t have a clue.
I am livid at May for being so in thrall to the Right Wing, that she’d rather damn us to economic penury, and then when pressed, she’ll use the excuse of “The will of the people.”
On top of that, the BBC didn’t see it fit to put this news to the public, instead of going with Hammond’s U-turn on NI tax instead. Our TV licence fee came this morning, and I’m going to ask my partner if we can opt out because I refuse to pay money to a Tory/UKIP mouthpiece.
I can’t really vote for Labour anymore. I do like my MP, but… I can’t vote for an anti-European party anymore, and as long as Corbyn is head of Labour, that’s what Labour is going to be.
Dodgy, I think the BBC goes with the headline grabbing news just like other media organisations. The BBC are also regularly accused of left-bias.
The BBC, I think, has an establishment bias. It’s inclined to be relatively conservative editorially on economics and relatively liberal on social issues, which reflects generally how the great and good see things.
So the lefties hate it because its news coverage is skewed to the neoliberal consensus. And the righties hate it because it reflects the consensus that diversity is a good thing.
But I do think they amplified UKIP by over-reporting in a way that has been damaging to the country. And particularly the BBC, who gave more air time to them than even, say, Murdoch-owned Sky News.
“Dodgy, reading about David Davis’ clueless answers at the committee yesterday was worrying.”
It was actually terrifying to see he had no clue about anything.
He looks like Seth MacFarlane in a Saturday Night Live skit about the Dutch Donald… and yeah, hopefully the populist wave in Europe is coming to an end.
This is legit the only thing that has given me any kind of hope about the world recently.
I know that it isn’t exactly cause for celebration, but to see at least one country stand up to nationalism was nice, for lack of a better word . A defeat is still a defeat right now, however small. I’m desperately hoping it will be motivating to voters in Germany and France. Maybe if things swing the right way there, our politicians will finally find their backbone and do something about 45.
So I feel like Leo DiCaprio will look like this in his 70s…old Leo is all I can see in this guy.
I came here to write the SAME EXACT THING!
Yes! Dutch reader checking in. I voted (greenleft/groen links) Many people voted Rutte because he was always the big party besides Wilders. So for a lot it was a strategic vote against wilders to ensure he wouldn’t be the biggest party.
Wish the outcome was more left but at least he didn’t win.
The Greens seemed to do well. Labour was the big loser, right?
Yeah labour lost so much! They weren’t present enough I think. A lot of their votes went to green and D66.
In Germany it looks like th SPD might win over Angela Merkel and CDU – it’s not exactly the same danger as Marine Le Pen thankfully.
I’m so happy Wilders lost. My friend’s family are turkish living in the Netherlands for 30 years. That’s were his siblings and him were born and they were honestly terrified that this Nazi POS could get elected, they thought they could get deported to Turkey and you know Erdogan … ugh. .
It’s a valuable lesson for the rest of the world. If you don’t want fascism get to power then go to vote, no excuses.
Wilders supporters went to vote, as expected. The fact that change the outcome of this election is that people did the best thing you can do to stop far right parties, show up to vote.
Well done Nederland!
I wonder what his poor microwave has seen and heard?
Well, we’ve had our own version of Trump in Argentina for about a year and a half now, and voting is mandatory for all citizens here, so there…Kudos to the people of The Netherlands!!! At least some people are doing something right.
Good! I hope he gives up now. Not today, Satan!
So far as I can tell (I’m not Dutch, obviously, and their system is quite complex), Wilders “lost” into a strong second place: his party gained four new seats, while the “winner’s” party lost 25% of the seats it had. I also read that Rotterdam, Holland’s second biggest and most diverse city, went majority for Wilders. To me it seems like this was hardly a huge victory for Rutte and the VVD, nor a huge disaster for Wilders and the PVV – he’s still a strong force in the government and influencing the political landscape. Rutte’s party is also centre-right, not centre-left, yes?
I guess my point is, that looked at realistically, seeing these results as some sort of mega-defeat of populism is dangerous. The anger simmering in a lot of European electorates is still there, or Wilders wouldn’t have been “beaten” into a strong second place – he’d have disappeared into oblivion. He didn’t. He came in a strong second and he went from 15 to 19 seats in the government, while Rutte lost 25% of his.
Beware celebrating too early. It may be something of a bullet dodged, but the chambers are still loaded.
VVD is the largest in Rotterdam, PVV second.
Almost every party refuses to collaborate with wilders, so that means he’ll go into the opposition, where – yes- he’ll have 19 seats out op =- 70 (150 is the amount of seats, likely coalition will be more than half and opposition less than half), but historically speaking he will barely use them or he won’t have many likeminded people there who’ll vote against the coalition with him (because there will be left leaning parties in the opposition too).
On average the right became a little bit more right, but the left became a lot lefter. Because Rutte’s party has shrunk in size, he’ll have to compromise on his agenda to get support from his coalitionpartners, meaning he’ll immediately drop the populistic blabber of the past few weeks to steal votes from pvv.
If rutte doesn’t do that, he won’t be able to achieve a coalition, and wilders as No. 2 will get the opportunity to form a coalition, and nobody is going to let that happen.
Wilders has been in coalition and oppositions for well over a decade, and the only thing he has ever achieved was collapsing a coalition he was in himself (and he was only allowed in it as a silent partner not a policy contributor, because all the others refused his agenda).
Thanks for this post.
I base my understanding of Dutch coalition negotiations being similar to Danish ones, as dramatised in the TV show Borgen. Would that be about right?
I havent watched Borgen. In coalition, a selection of parties will become the policy makers, while opposition become the policy critics. The largest party gets to start the talks and look for a combination of parties they can work with, preferably more than 75 seats large so policies will get a majority in the chamber and get accepted.
Many parties have similarities and diffrences in their agenda’s and during the talks those are on the line and negotiated. ”ll give you this if you’ll give me that” sorta talks will take months, until a group has come to an understanding. It can be very frustrating and childish sometimes to follow.
Rutte’s party has won, so he’s the first to negotiate with other party leaders and look for common ground and acceptable compromises, and if he fails the order of partyresults is followed. Anyone can decline, so the mix we’ll end up with is still a surprise, so any party can become coalition at this point (except Wilders because he’s guaranteed not going to achieve an agreement with anyone).
This is also why PvdA (labour) got crushed; last term during negotiations they wanted to be coalition so badly that they gave all their left agendapoints away while supporting all of Rutte’s right points. They were doomed from the start.
Thanks. That’s pretty much how I was envisaging it.
And thanks again – now I understand the roots of the PvdA collapse. Similar happened here when we got a (rare) coalition government in 2010. The Lib Dems, the smaller party, handed over most policy positions to the larger party in return for a referendum on the voting system, which they lost. They were then seen as enablers of the larger party’s right wing agenda and were wiped out in the 2015 election.
Thanks for the info – to an American, the coalition stuff can be confusing. I read last night that PVV had gotten more votes in Rotterdam than VVD but perhaps overnight counting changed that. Here is my question: if Rutte makes it clear that he was only pretending to address some of Wilders’ voters’ concerns, won’t that hurt him next time around?
No, his voters love Rutte. He got the nickname ‘Teflon Mark’ because nothing bad seems to stick to him (and a lot of bad happened the last 4 years, broken promises and lies: 3 ministers of the justice department had to step down because of the lies they told and Rutte might still end up being involved in that). The VVD got a lot of strategic votes last time, it seems those voters have mostly gone back to their own party. The same happened to the PvdA: they got a lot of strategic left votes last time and a party like the Green party lost a lot due to that. It seems those voters have returned to their nests.
At some point to we realise that globalisation might not be working?
I hesitate to ask but do you have an alternative? Would you like to start making your own clothes?
Maybe countries produce their own clothes instead of exploiting people in other countries because it is cheaper? Do you not care about working class people in your own country? Because it is then who loses out.
LMAO
Yes, that is my problem, I do not care. Come on. The solution is not to make everything yourself. The solution is to start paying living wages and dialing back the “I need MORE and I need it CHEAP.” That is the real issue. We always take a good idea and go too far because we’re greedy.
There are a million things to do better but I have yet to hear a feasible solution for how to “end globalization”. Because that ending would be ugly for everyone involved.
But companies won’t start paying living wages anytime soon, will they? How do you start businesses doing this?
You try to reward the ones who do. If you can identify any.
I’m not saying I have the answers but if this is already something you can’t fathom (and I understand that), how do you propose we end globalization? I also don’t know what that has to do with Wilders.
jess – while I try my best to avoid sweated products, it’s just not that simple.
Like it or not, globalisation has lifted more people out of absolute poverty than has ever been seen before worldwide. It’s like a global repeat of early capitalism. Labour conditions were dreadful at the outset but gradually improved as workers fought for rights and ultimately, capitalism created better living standards for all.
And yes, the losers in globalisation have been the working classes of Western societies. But that doesn’t mean that we should stop lifting people elsewhere out of poverty through development. The onus is on DOMESTIC Western governments to distribute the DOMESTIC proceeds of globalisation (corporate profits) in a more equitable manner. And the onus on us, as Littlemiss says, is to buy fewer, more fairly traded products. Win win.
But that doesn’t mean getting pished off with immigrants. It means voting for people with social justice policies instead of racist misogynist idiots from the disaster capitalist class.
If you are looking for ethical clothing Everlane is a good one. It’s not cheap because they pay their workers living wages and are constantly improving working conditions for their workers abroad and in the states. They currently don’t ship internationally which sucks but they are solid. It takes effort and yes we need to teach todays kids that they don’t NEED things and that less but better quality from reputable sellers is more. That’s the only way to shift globalization into something, well fairer…
God this planet is a real mess isn’t it :/
The working class are going to be replaced by machines/robots during the coming decade anyway, globalization or not.
In fact, Trump style isolationism is only going to speed up the process. The cheapest labor is an employee who does not require a salary and can work 24/7 so companies Trump forces to stay in the US will simply invest in automation instead of paying the American working class.
Thank goodness!!! Wilders looks like a horrible blend of the Wiki Leaks guy and DT. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed for Angela Merkel to win and make a big statement against racism.
Have to say I felt relieved when I saw this result last night. However, I’m very concerned about what some commenters have said here about how these horrible right-wingers keep pushing and pushing moderate parties of all countries to the right.
I have to admit that I don’t quite share your optimistic view of our election results.
Yes, Wilders’ party didn’t ‘win’, but they did gain more seats, which was to be expected and which is a very worrying trend.
Moreover, in many towns in the south (including mine), his party got the most votes. Granted, in most of those towns, the party I voted for (left/socialist) came in second, but it still is very worrying to me.
We will probably end up with a centre-right coalition helmed by our current Prime Minister, who said he would not work with Wilders. But the fact remains that a lot of people voted for this xenophobic populistic clown, and that breaks my heart.
Oh and on social media I’m reading a lot of comments in the vein of “but people vote for him because they feel forgotten” or “they just want to vote against the establishment” (sounds familiar?). Which, lemme tell ya, is a big pile of BS. Everyone I know who would vote for this guy, is mainly doing it because of the anti Muslim/refugee/immigrant rhetoric.
I have another question – it appears that Wilders was leading in the polls for a long time until about a month ago, when he suspended public campaigning due to “security concerns”. That seems to be when the polls started swinging toward Rutte. Doesn’t it kind of look like Wilders threw the election in some way? No one who wants to win disappears from public view when he’s ahead in the polls and the election is coming up soon. If it is true that no one would work with Wilders if he had come in first, wouldn’t he have been letting himself in for big-time humiliation to go all the way? It just seemed such a wacky thing to do – sometimes these far right types aren’t that interested in governing – they prefer the “gadfly” role. (I think Le Pen is an exception to that.) TBH, I always suspected that Trump never expected to win and also isn’t particularly interested in governing. He was hoist with his own petard. Unfortunately, so were we. But Wilders looks like he understands the game better – I don’t think he wanted to win. How does this theory sound to you, as you are on the spot there, so to speak?
Wilders always gets more in the polls than in the elections. Our polls seems to be, well, not very accurate. It’s not that they’re all over the place, but they’re never really accurate, you can see trends, but nobody will bet on them.
I do think Wilders doesn’t want to govern. He rules his own party like a dictator and it has been falling apart for months now. Two of his partymembers are suing him over the conditions under which they have to work, two more split from the PVV and kept their seats as independants. Whenever Wilders wins there’s always the stories about the new people he had to get and they appear to be grossly incompetent with shady pasts. Wilders knows he would never be able to deliver competent ministers and unlike Trump, he seems to be aware of how bad it would make him look if his ministers were total whackos. There’s still a great stigma attached to working for Wilders so he doesn’t get good people willing to risk it all and work for him.
I mostly agree with Wilma’s comment, although I’m not really sure if he is indeed that self-aware. I am 100% sure that Wilders would not be a competent leader, but I personally doubt he himself really realises that. I think he never really expects to actually end up in government, so he doesn’t have to think about the reality of it yet.
So, do I think that he ‘threw’ the election? No. I personally think that when he suspended public campaigning because of security reasons, he knew exactly what he was doing, and it was not sabotaging his own chances but exactly the opposite. Reminding your supporters that it is unsafe for you to appear in public because of the views you – and they – hold, is an excellent way to keep them on your side.
I think the polls swinging towards Rutte had more to do with the recent widespread advice to vote VVD as a way of preventing the PVV of becoming the biggest party. I know quite a few people who only ended up voting for Rutte for this very reason.
Well, back when he got into that coalitionlike construction with the VVD and CDA, he was the one who didn’t want to go fully in and deliver ministers. He has a hard time keeping his party together.
PVV was the 2nd most popular party, which is still really scary.
(The dreamy) Jesse Klaver did unexpectedly well, which I’m happy about.
Disaster for PvdA. My Dutch teacher was devastated.
Yes, he lost his bid at being PM, but his party gained seats. They have something to build on, so they’re mostly pleased with this.
Realistically he never really had a shot at becoming PM, because nobody is willing to work with him and he couldn’t make a majority on his own. Unless he literally got over 50% of the vote – and I never got the sense that that might happen. (then again I live in leftie-town)
I mean, it’s mixed news – on some level there is relief, but the results aren’t exactly good either. I think a lot of people internationally don’t understand how our coalition system works so were imagining a hard win/lose line where there isn’t one.
He couldn’t have become prime minister anyway because of his criminal record. I’m surprised this wasn’t brought up more during the campaign, he should have been asked ho his candidate for PM was.
Yey for Holland!
I went and voted yesterday only because I thought every vote that is not a vote for Wilders is good!
great you did!! 🙂
Obviously this man goes to the Drumpf School of Hairstyling for his coif.
Wilders was never going to form a government anyway even if his party won 35 seats . The Netherlands government has nearly always been made up of coalitions. The winner won 33seats out of 150 and will have to join with at least 4 other parties to form a government. Wilders would never have gained enough support from others to form a government.
To Dutch readers, how does your government manage when so many parties are needed to form one. Is there a lot of infighting or does it run fairly smoothly?
Coalitions fall apart sometimes. Wilders blew one up when he was in one – which is the reason (beside his agenda) that nobody will work with him now – they know he’d be a nightmare.
I think this past coalition is the first in a couple of decades that stayed intact for a full term (!). Nonetheless I think the multi-party system is preferable over the 2-party ‘all or nothing’ approach. I’m sure there is infighting, but our system strongly discourages the bizarre mudslinging campaigns you see in the US, because everybody is well aware they might need those other parties/politicians down the line.
Communism can’t come soon enough.
Rot op.