{"id":442,"date":"2025-10-29T07:40:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T07:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=442"},"modified":"2025-10-29T07:40:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T07:40:53","slug":"dutch-vote-in-knife-edge-snap-elections-seen-as-litmus-test-for-far-right-elections-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=442","title":{"rendered":"Dutch vote in knife-edge snap elections seen as litmus test for far right | Elections News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Polls suggest anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party on course to win largest number of seats.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 29 Oct 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">29 Oct 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>People in the Netherlands are voting in a high-stakes snap election dominated by immigration and housing issues that will test the strength of the far right, which is on the rise across Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Voting began at 7:30am (06:30 GMT) on Wednesday, and polls suggested anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders and his far-right Freedom Party (PVV) are on course to win the largest number of seats in the 150-member House of Representatives. However, three more moderate parties are closing the gap, and half the electorate is undecided.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 2 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>After the results are known, parties have to negotiate the makeup of the next coalition government in a system of proportional representation that means no party can reach the 76 seats needed to govern alone.<\/p>\n<p>The key question is whether other parties will work with Wilders \u2013 known as the \u201cDutch Trump\u201d, a reference to the United States president \u2013 who sparked the elections by pulling the PVV out of a fractious four-way coalition and collapsing the previous government in a row over immigration.<\/p>\n<p>All mainstream parties have ruled out a partnership with him again, finding his views too unpalatable and viewing him as an untrustworthy coalition partner. It seems likely that the leader of the party that polls second will most likely become prime minister.<\/p>\n<p>Reporting from The Hague, Al Jazeera\u2019s Step Vaessen said the election campaign had been \u201cdominated by calls to limit immigration\u201d with \u201csome violent protests against refugee centres\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In a pre-election interview with the news agency AFP, Wilders said people were \u201cfed up with mass immigration and the change of culture and the influx of people who really do not culturally belong here\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe future of our nation is at stake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Rob Jetten \u2013 leader of the centre-left D66 party, which wants to rein in migration but also accommodate asylum seekers \u2013 told Wilders that voters can \u201cchoose again tomorrow to listen to your grumpy hatred for another 20 years or choose with positive energy to simply get to work and tackle this problem and solve it\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Frans Timmermans, a former European Commission vice president who now leads the centre-left bloc of the Labour Party and Green Left, said in the final debate before the elections that he was \u201clooking forward to the day \u2013 and that day is tomorrow \u2013 that we can put an end to the Wilders era\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond immigration, the housing crisis that especially affects young people in the densely populated country has been a key campaign issue.<\/p>\n<p>The electoral commission has registered 27 parties and 1,166 candidates running for the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>That means a big ballot paper because it bears the names of all the parties and the candidates on each party\u2019s list.<\/p>\n<p>Polls close at 9pm (20:00 GMT).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Polls suggest anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party on course to win largest number of seats. Published On 29 Oct 202529 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share People in the Netherlands are voting in a high-stakes snap election dominated by immigration and housing issues that will test the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}