Geert Wilders may have been beaten into second place in the Dutch elections but the far-right MP will enjoy a magnified role in parliament and remain a force to be reckoned with, analysts said.
While he failed in his aim of starting a “patriotic revolution”, Mr. Wilders has already succeeded in shifting the debate and the tone in Dutch politics on immigration and integration, observers said.
Campaigning on an anti-Islam ticket, the peroxide-haired politician saw his hopes wilt from an all-time high in January when opinion polls had said he could win as many as 37 seats in the 150-seat Dutch lower chamber.
Instead, he captured a more sobering 20 seats in Wednesday’s general elections, behind the 33 won by the Liberal party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, but enough to place his Freedom Party (PVV) second.
“It would have been great if we were the largest, but we’re willing to talk and help govern. That’'s my hope,” Mr. Wilders told journalists on Thursday.
But he warned his party would “show our hard opposition side” if he were excluded.
Cobbling up a coalition
The long process to form the next government has begun with the VVD sounding out other parties to try to cobble together a coalition.
Most parties leaders, including Mr. Rutte, have already vowed not to work with Mr. Wilders, alienated by his fiery anti-immigrant, anti-EU rhetoric, and his go-it-alone attitude.
Long shadow
But analysts say Mr. Wilders, who quit the VVD in 2006 to set up his party, will continue to cast a long shadow across the Dutch political landscape and has already succeeded in pulling the lowlands country to the right.
“What's telling is that many parties, including Rutte’s VVD, have already taken on some of the PVV’s viewpoints and content... particularly when it comes to immigration policies,” said Matthijs Rooduijn, a political sociologist at the University of Utrecht.
