It looks like at the end Wilders who has I think been in the lead in polls for some time was just too much for the Dutch to take. https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...oters-go-to-the-polls-in-the-netherlands-live The turnout was apparently 82% the highest turnout in 31 years. Seems like the Dutch knew exactly what they were looking at and decided no. There was also a massive loss to their Labour party down to about 9 seats but a new left/green party has come in with 12. Anyway that looks like Holland will be staying in the EU and even with the situation where people do not trust the established political elite, the people of Holland came out when it mattered and said no to Wilders. Good for them.
It's never over til it's over. I can see Rutte doing the Hillary swoon and never being heard from again.
No it looks like he is over. If the polls are right, Rutte will remain as PM in a coalition. Wilders is not going to find himself in any coalition.
You mean like Trump supporters were crazies and fringe alt-right zombies. Let's see how it shakes out.
The exit polls for Brexit were inaccurate and we have to wait for the final results. It may be embarrassing to say loudly in public that you voted for Wilders outside polling stations.
Wilders lost. Trump killed him. How could anyone vote for Wilders knowing how Trump has performed? Germany and France are now in a safer place, too. The pendulum swings again after over-shooting. Happens every time, eventually....
What does race have to do with religion? Islam is not a race. Well, it is a race - a race to take over the wold - but that is another type of "race".
No, that does not look like the situation. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...e-set-to-beat-geert-wilders-in-dutch-election In reality even if Wilders had got the most seats, the other parties would have formed the coalition so he would not have got power. It is good that the Dutch made such a good turnout though to show they were not going to stoop that low. However both Rutte's party and the Christian Democrats have moved way to the right. Rutte has copied Wilders in saying something about if Muslims do not integrate they can leave when it is known the vast majority of Dutch Muslims are well integrated and in not allowing Turkish Parliamentarians to speak to Turks and the Christian Democratic party has also been pushing way to the right http://www.srnnews.com/christian-democrat-buma-could-be-unexpected-winner-of-dutch-vote/ However it does mean that Holland is not going to leave the EU in the near future, which obviously allows time to democratise the EU. What seems to be more interesting in the Dutch election is the good showing of the Left Green Party. They are the sort of people who are going to have to start capturing people's imagination to stop the established right taking over the far right position and allow us to beat the real problem which is neo liberalism and corporate power .
This is a good analysis and rings true actually. To take analogies: UKIP could never have won in the UK, but were sufficient to force the Conservatives to adopt the policy on EU referendum which voted to exit. Trump made himself the candidate of one of the two major parties in the US, rather than running independently. In theory, a large number of centrists could hold their nose and vote for Trump with the assurance that the party machine would control his excesses. Trump actually got to the top of the candidate list and then the presidency, but the final list of Republican candidates contained no moderates. The whole party had already shifted. Similarly, the Dutch right wing has had to adopt the less toxic of Geert's policy platform in order to negate him. This has succeeded in the polls but it will be interesting to see how it has changed Dutch policy going forward... Geert hasn't gone away, after all.
Yes it is being seen as that. However it is a dangerous game moving further to the right and away from accepted norms.
Rutte's VVD Party has 33 seats and Wilders' party (PVV) gained 20 seats in the end after 100% of the votes are counted, which is slightly different from the exit poll. Two other parties (CDA, D66) are close behind, with 19 seats each. http://nos.nl/artikel/2163332-tk17-bekijk-de-uitslagen-per-gemeente-en-vorm-je-eigen-coalitie.html
Here's more: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tu...ns--.aspx?pageID=238&nID=110874&NewsCatID=510 Turkish FM warns of ‘religion wars’ in Europe in remarks on Dutch elections ANTALYA Europe will soon be the site of “religion wars,” Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on March 16, in Ankara’s first comment on the general elections in the Netherlands that saw the victory of Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberal VVD. “Now the election is over in the Netherlands ... “When you look at the many parties you see there is no difference between the social democrats and fascist [Geert] Wilders. All have the same mentality. Where will you go? Where are you taking Europe? You have begun to collapse Europe. You are dragging Europe into the abyss. Holy wars will soon begin in Europe,” Çavuşoğlu said on March 16, in Ankara’s first comment on the general election in the Netherlands that saw the victory of Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberal VVD. “They killed each other 100 years ago because they were of different faiths,” he added, without elaborating. “But they learned a lesson from this and then set up the European Union and the Council of Europe,” he added. March/16/2017
