Geert Wilders’ anti-migration party has closed the gap on the ruling conservatives in the Dutch election, an early poll revealed today.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy retains a lead of 10 percentage points over Wilders’ populist, anti-EU party.
Rutte is projected to win between 34 and 38 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, while Wilders is forecast to win between 17 and 21 seats, according to the respected Peilingwijzer survey.
The 54-year-old PM’s popularity soared over the last year as he took centre stage to outline the government’s response to the pandemic, but it was hammered two months ago by a child benefits scandal which forced his entire cabinet to resign.
Wilders and Rutte clashed in a TV debate last week. ‘A vote for the VVD these days means that even more Dutch people, Mr. Rutte, will feel like a stranger on their own street,’ Wilders said, claiming the PM was soft on migration.
But Rutte (pictured during the debate) said Wilders was misleading his supporters with nonsensical ideas. ‘You are structurally letting them down because you propose sham solutions,’ Rutte told him
Wilders’ Freedom Party has been appealing to voters who have grown impatient at tough coronavirus restrictions.
‘We are losing our freedom en masse,’ the 57-year-old firebrand said recently in response to a new nightly curfew.
‘We are being imprisoned at home on the orders of Mark Rutte,’ Wilders said.
The Netherlands, a country of 17 million people, has recorded more than 16,000 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic started.
Although deaths declined to a seven-day average of 32 on Tuesday, infection rates remain stubbornly high – at around 45 per cent of its peak in December.
Like the rest of the EU, the country has had a woeful vaccine rollout, with just 1.6 million doses administered – enough for 4.7 per cent of the population to have two doses.
Despite public support for Wilders, he is unlikely to be invited to form a government with Rutte due to his hardline views on immigration.
‘A vote for the VVD these days means that even more Dutch people, Mr. Rutte, will feel like a stranger on their own street,’ Wilders said in a recent TV debate, claiming the PM was soft on migration.
But Rutte said Wilders was misleading his supporters with nonsensical ideas.
‘You are structurally letting them down because you propose sham solutions,’ Rutte told him.
A record of 37 parties are on the ballot and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Union are vying for third place behind Wilders’ party. Either the CDA or the Christian Union could help Rutte to form a government.
Rutte has led the last three Dutch ruling coalitions and has been in power for more than a decade.
Wilders has previously conceded that he is unlikely to take power as voters seek stability during the pandemic.
‘The current government is rather popular now, at least the prime minister is, but then again in time of crisis, people tend to rally around the flag,’ Wilders said.
‘Other issues such as immigration are still important. For my voters, it’s still number one, but if you look at the average Dutchman, corona is the number one issue.’
Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren said Tuesday in a letter to Parliament that she will tell municipalities that are responsible for counting votes to amend the way they deal with postal votes after reports emerged Monday of what her ministry called ‘procedural mistakes with postal votes.’
National broadcaster NOS reported that a number of municipalities said some postal votes could be invalid because the voters had not followed instructions correctly when mailing their ballot paper.
The broadcaster reported from the small municipality of Bernheze that 1,688 people voted by mail and 143 of the votes could be invalid.
A woman cast her vote at a church during the Dutch general election, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Tuesday
The increased use of postal voting for people aged 70 and over is among measures intended to make the election safe amid stubbornly high coronavirus infection rates in the Netherlands, a nation of just over 17 million where more than 16,000 people are confirmed to have died of COVID-19.
Voting has been spread out over three days, starting Monday, with the first two days intended to allow people who are considered more vulnerable to the virus to vote in polling stations that are not as busy as on normal election days.
The final day of voting is Wednesday and results are expected to begin rolling in after polling stations close at 9pm and into Thursday.
The party that wins the most seats is first in line to lead talks to form the next ruling coalition.
If that is Rutte, and he succeeds in cobbling together a new government, he could become the country’s longest-serving prime minister.