Congratulations Geert Wilders

The consensus in the reports I am reading is that Geert Wilders and the Freedom Party, while coming in third in the Dutch elections, must still be considered the big winners as they have almost tripled their representation in Parliament. It seems that the Dutch will either have a dubious alliance of (somewhat) free market/fiscally conservative and socialist parties aimed at keeping Wilders' party out of government, thus no doubt only highlighting the issues for which Gilders is persona non grata in the salons of the moribund EU elite, or he will be brought into government and Dutch politicians will attempt to hash out the kind of compromises  that may become viable in future in a poorer, more EUrosceptic, Europe, or the Dutch will soon be returning to the voting booths.

Dutch electorate votes right-wing and populist | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

The conservative VVD has won its first parliamentary election ever, but Geert Wilders and his populist Freedom Party (PVV) are seen as the real winners of these elections. The Islam-bashing party nearly trebled its seats. What do the Dutch see in the populist Geert Wilders?

'Fellow party members, bring along a battering ram, because tomorrow we are going to break down the doors”. With this admonition Geert Wilders marked his party’s election victory. The one-and-a-half million voters who cast their ballots for the man and his relentless crusade against ‘mass immigration’ and the ‘Islamisation of the Netherlands also celebrated his victory. The Freedom Party has nearly trebled in size compared to the 2006 elections, and is now the third largest after the conservative VVD and the social democratic PvdA.

Jeering
When PvdA leader Job Cohen at a party meeting in Amsterdam congratulated Geert Wilders and his PVV on their major election victory, his remark was greeted with loud jeering. However, the former Amsterdam mayor rebuked his supporters, saying: ”I don’t want to hear any jeering, the PVV has won a major victory and we should respect that”. All established parties have since congratulated Wilders, and much of the criticism has died down now that one in six Dutch voters cast their ballots for the populist party.

The much-vaunted Dutch ‘polder model’, i.e. the system of ensuring economic prosperity and political stability by seeking broad political consensus on major issues, is unlikely to provide an answer to the current situation. The major parties are deeply divided on how to fight the economic crisis and how to address the thorny issues of immigration and Islam. And the election has failed to provide a clear winner with a strong mandate to form a coalition.