Despite Wilders coming in second: far right beaten in European quarter final

April, 2017May, 2020 ZPDSK

Despite Wilders coming in second: far right beaten in European quarter final

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POPULISM | In the wake of the electoral victories of the Brexit campaign and Donald Trump, right-wing populism in the rich world had appeared unstoppable. In both the Netherlands and France, conservative nationalists had consistently led polls. However, these movements’ momentum seemed to have been halted at last. On March 15th 2017 Geert Wilders’s anti-immigration Party for Freedom (PVV) was dealt a surprising setback in the Dutch parliamentary election: rather than winning the most seats, as many analysts projected, the party finished second.

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Relief across Europe
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s center-right VVD Party remained the biggest in parliament after an election on Wednesday. The result was a relief to mainstream parties across Europe, particularly in France and Germany, where right-wing nationalists were set to make a big impact in elections later that year.

Boost
Rutte got a last-minute boost from a diplomatic row with Turkey, which allowed him to take a well-timed tough line on a majority Muslim country during an election campaign in which immigration and integration have been key issues.

Quarter Final
The Dutch PM had called the vote a European quarter-final, before a French semi-final and German final, and warned voters that a Wilders victory would be “the wrong sort of populism winning the day”.

Last updated on: 24 April 2020

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