Dutch voters are set to choose their next leader and shake up their political landscape today, with four parties, including that of Party for Freedom (PVV) led by right-wing populist Geert Wilders, vying for victory.
More than 13 million voters have 26 parties to choose from in an election observed closely across Europe following 13 years of government under Mark Rutte, who was forced to resign over his inability to curb mass migration earlier this year.
Polls indicate an extremely close race, with Wilders predicted to win with 28 seats in the Dutch parliament – just one more than GroenLinks-PvdA led by the far-left Frans Timmermans and People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) led by the Turkish-born Dilan Yeşilgöz–Zegerius, Rutte’s replacement. The newly-founded centre-right New Social Contract (NSC) party, led by Pieter Omtzigt, is in a close fourth.
A staggering 63 percent of the Dutch electorate told pollsters the day before election day that they were yet to decide from whom they would cast their ballot. The victor could possibly gaining less than 20 percent of the total vote and fewer than 30 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
This year’s elections have focused primarily on issues such as migration, availability of housing, universal basic income, as well as climate change.
“The two things we can expect are that we will no longer have any ‘big’ parties left – good luck finding a majority – and high volatility, which makes it extremely difficult to make any sort of predictions about the outcome,” states assistant professor in European politics and society at Groningen University, Léonie de Jonge.
The electoral race was marred earlier this week after Thierry Baudet, leader of another right-wing populist party “Forum for Democracy,” was hospitalized following an attack. His party is expected to receive up to five seats.
