Rob Jetten’s liberal D66 party and far-right firebrand Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party are neck and neck in the Dutch election, according to exit polls released Wednesday night.
D66 is on track to get 27 seats, while Wilders’ PVV is close behind and poised to snag 25 seats, the key exit survey by Ipsos I&O, carried out for broadcasters NOS and RTL, suggested.
Led by the 38-year-old former climate minister Jetten, D66 surged in recent weeks. Known for its pro-EU climate-focused agenda, the party positioned itself as a moderate alternative to both Wilders’ far right and the traditional conservatives.
The center-right liberals of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) are projected to come third with 23 seats. Meanwhile, the center-left GreenLeft-Labor (GL-PvdA) is set to win 20 seats, in a disappointing performance that triggered the resignation of leader Frans Timmermans, and the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) is on 19, the exit poll signaled.
The numbers reflect deep divisions in Dutch society, with a large number of voters backing D66’s centrist leader Jetten — who positioned himself as an anti-Wilders — and a similar-sized cohort supporting Wilders himself.
Should the exit polls be borne out — and they have historically been a good indicator of Dutch election final results — it would be a crushing blow to left-wing voters who had hoped popular frustration with the country’s former far-right government would carry them to victory.
The liberals, for their part, were buoyant at their party’s stunning leap to potentially leading the next Dutch government.
In Leiden, D66’s election viewing party welcomed the first exit poll with thunderous cheers, as the crowd chanted “it is possible” — the party’s campaign slogan.
Wilders was defiant, despite a decline in his support from the previous national election.
“The voter has spoken. We had hoped for a different outcome, but we stood our ground. We are more determined than ever and still the second, and perhaps even the largest, party in the Netherlands,” he posted on social media.
Fighting Wilders
The election comes just two years after the Netherlands’ last vote, when the far-right PVV secured a shock victory and a share of power for the first time.
The PVV-led government, which also included the liberal VVD, the centrist New Social Contract and the populist Farmer-Citizens Movement, was marked by infighting and collapsed less than a year into its term when Wilders pulled his party out of the coalition over a dispute on asylum policy.
Migration and a severe housing crisis in the Netherlands were hot topics in the runup to Wednesday’s vote. But campaigns also revolved around the question of stable leadership, with parties staking out positions against the anti-migration PVV and ruling out any further collaboration with Wilders.
The CDA also erupted in cheers at a beach club in The Hague when supporters saw they were projected to almost quadruple their seats in parliament from 5 to 19.
Former CDA Agriculture Minister Gerda Verburg told POLITICO she was delighted with the result: “Now we can start building calmer, stable politics again.” She added she was relieved Wilders’ Freedom Party didn’t “grow more.”
At the VVD party headquarters, leader Dilan Yeşilgöz walked onto the stage to chants of her name, a striking contrast to earlier rumors that she might have to resign if the party suffered major losses.
Speaking to POLITICO, she framed the early results as a mandate for a center-right agenda: “Based on these [early] results, the Netherlands has chosen a center-right course in which we really commit ourselves to a strong defense sector, a strong economy, and lower taxes.”
When asked about the apparent contradiction of celebrating despite a modest decline in seats, Yeşilgöz replied: “The polls in the past months weren’t so good for the VVD. When you see how we’ve been able to rebound from that, then there’s reason to speak of a beautiful celebration.”
Fans of the GreenLeft-Labor alliance, who gathered in the large Maassilo venue in Rotterdam, fell silent after the exit poll revealed the joint ticket had underperformed, losing seats compared to the last election and falling short of predictions in the most recent surveys.
Enthusiasm had built before the exit poll, in a venue lit up in red and green where attendees were served red and green shots — but the mood was quickly doused.
Their disappointment was quickly compounded by another blow: Timmermans, the alliance’s leader and former European Commission vice president and climate chief, announced his resignation from the party leadership.
“It’s clear that I, for whatever reason, couldn’t convince people to vote for us,” Timmermans said.
This story is being updated.
Elena Giordano reported from Brussels. Hanne Cokelaere reported from Leiden. Pieter Haeck reported from Rotterdam. Koen Verhelst and Eva Hartog reported from The Hague.
Rob Jetten’s liberals and Geert Wilders’ far right battle to win Dutch election
Source: Viral Showbiz Pinay
0 Comments