Dutch elections: will the right-wing populists win?
Today's parliamentary elections in the Netherlands are a very close race. In the latest polls, Geert Wilders' Islamophobic and right-wing populist PVV has a narrow lead against the right-wing liberal former governing party VVD and the red-green electoral alliance GL-PvdA of former EU heavyweight Frans Timmermans. Commentators fear above all a potential shift to the right.
PVV triumph would have dire consequences
Geert Wilders is a key figure on the right-wing spectrum in Europe, warns Le Soir:
“Wilders would tip another domino in favour of the populists and extremists. ... The founder of the PVV is one of the veterans of radical anti-immigration positions and Islamophobia in Europe and was one of the first of this extreme type to emerge - before Orbán, Marine Le Pen and the leaders of Vlaams Belang, who are all his friends. At a time when Viktor Orbán has just launched a new anti-European referendum on immigration and the war in Ukraine - which his populist Slovakian friend Robert Fico is immitating - and when Giorgia Meloni is in power in Italy while Marine Le Pen has never been so close to securing it, a swing to the right in the Netherlands would have dire consequences.”
Others paved the way for Wilders' intolerance
De Volkskrant is concerned about the high poll ratings of right-wing populist Geert Wilders' party:
“No other party is isolating itself so strongly from other countries. No other party creates such a strong illusion that everything will be fine if we, the good Dutch, just keep the bad foreigners at a distance. ... Because the [right-wing liberal governing party] VVD in particular has failed to sufficiently distance itself from Wilders, not only Wilders himself but also his message of intolerant xenophobia has gained credibility. Wilders' advance is the logical conclusion to a narrow-minded election campaign in which other countries did not seem to exist.”
The left must be red and green
The electoral alliance between the Greens and the social democratic Groenlinks-PvdA was the right formula, stresses Jan Marinus Wiersma, International Secretary of the PvdA, in Jelen:
“The cooperation between GroenLinks and PvdA may be unique in terms of form, but cooperation between progressive forces is not. In Italy, the Democratic Party was formed by the merging of different parties. In France, the Socialists and the Greens joined forces [with others] to form a left-wing electoral alliance. ... Only as a red-green amalgamation can the left convince voters of its own relevance and importance. There are various ways of doing this, because not all electoral systems are the same. But the Dutch approach is a radical step in this direction.”
Ignoring the empty coffers
NRC finds it worrying that the recession played no role in the election campaign:
“Politicians across almost the entire spectrum are giving the impression that they are still living in the era of growth, labour shortages and low interest rates. An era that is just ending or has already come to an end. Money is no longer 'free', and the assumption that there is a job for everyone who is willing and able is risky. ... Fact-free promises, especially those made by parties that have not had their programmes checked by auditors, must therefore be viewed with a large dose of scepticism. After all, you can't simply argue away a recession.”