In the last elections in the Netherlands a week ago, the controversial Geert Wilders, leader of the xenophobic and Eurosceptic Freedom Party (PVV), received the most votes and is now aiming for the office of Dutch Prime Minister. But every day it becomes more difficult to convince other parties to form a government.
Mark Rutte’s former ruling party, the Right-Wing Liberals (VVD), declared immediately after the November 22 elections that government cooperation with the PVV was unthinkable. One of the reasons for this was that the VVD held a disastrous election with a new party leader, falling from 34 to 24 seats in a 150-member parliament.
The latest setback for Wilders came as the newly formed conservative NSC party closed the door on cooperation on Wednesday. “Overall, the NSC sees no basis for starting talks with the PVV about forming a majority or minority government,” said party leader Pieter Omtzigt, explaining the decision. The NSC has 20 seats in parliament. Omtzigt explained that the PVV’s election program “contains positions that, in our opinion Conflict with our constitution and we draw a clear line there.”
The far-right leader needs 76 of the 150 seats in parliament to form a government. Although it was the country’s largest party with 37 MPs, its only hope was a coalition with the largest right-wing parties. There remain, among other things the rural populist BBB, with seven seats. Other far-right parties could give him another nine seats, but that is still not enough to govern.
The second most elected force with 25 seats is the alliance of Social Democrats and Greens led by the former Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, He also categorically rules out any contact with Wilders. It is up to Timmermans to seek support to build a governing coalition if Wilders ultimately fails in his attempt.