It’s Saturday and open-air market day in Venlo, the hometown of Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders. With 69,000 inhabitants and located in the south of the Netherlands, on the banks of the Meuse River, 36% of its voters have favored the politician, the most voted there, who has promised to restore their national pride and stop immigration. Wilders has been able to capitalize on citizen dissatisfaction with the previous government and, by softening his stance against Islam, he has attracted broad layers of the population. “The country is full and we cannot subsidize everyone who comes in search of a better life. You have to be realistic,” says Jan – none of those consulted for this article wanted to provide his last name –, who talks with a friend next to the food and clothing stalls. The politician’s belligerence with mosques and Muslim schools, and his calls to reduce the presence of compatriots whom he called “Moroccans” a few years ago, have not been forgotten. However, he has spread the motto that “the Dutch come first”, with an overwhelming effect not foreseen by the rest of the parties.
Venlo is a hub for horticultural logistics and trade. The unemployment figure in the municipality is 3.9% (in the rest of the country it is 3.5%). The Meuse runs majestically through it and the urban center combines old buildings with commercial streets full of shops and cafes. Anita, who sells dresses in a corner of the market and arrived from India 40 years ago, is very clear about the future of Wilders, for whom she voted. “If he continues to cling to the issue of Islam and religion, it will be very difficult for him to become prime minister. Don’t let him mess with the Muslims! ”He claims while warming himself with a long coffee on a cold and rainy morning. He is aware that “people have shown with their votes that they want change.” But she insists: “Those he calls foreigners work as hard as the rest of the population and he repeats that he is going to work for everyone. Let him prove it.”
Wilders opened his election campaign on October 20 in a bar in Venlo near the market. His name is De Blauw Trap (The blue staircase). Those in charge of him, who declare themselves politically “neutral” – “this is a business and here we do not take sides,” they say – remember the enormous security device that surrounded the politician that night. “Much bigger than what we usually see on television,” they say. Wilders is accompanied everywhere by several bodyguards.
In 2004, Dutch police arrested and charged two people with planning an attack against the politician. The then liberal MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali also figured in the plans of those arrested. Since then, the Dutchman has been protected and changes his house constantly to prevent anyone from finding out where he sleeps. A situation that his wife, Krisztina Marfai, a diplomat of Hungarian origin, has had to get used to.
“Someone like that, from the extreme right, cannot represent the Netherlands abroad. It divides people and I don’t understand their victory,” laments the owner of a clothing store, who prefers not to give her name. “Then they cancel you on social media,” she justifies. At a closed microphone, she compares Wilders to Silvio Berlusconi, the late Italian prime minister, and Giorgia Meloni, his current successor. “Although they cannot be taken seriously,” she says, “they remain in power for years and years.”
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Jeanne, who is visiting Venlo, cast a “strategic” vote so that Wilders does not win with his ridiculous ideas. Now, she doubts that she can agree on a coalition. “[Wilders] He claims that he will work for all Dutch people. Who knows. That the country is full [de migrantes] is not true. With what your program says, I don’t think it will go very far,” she says. The feeling that the rest of the political parties, in Jeanne’s words, “only think about themselves and their power games” has been another reason for Wilders’ victory. Jan, the man who walks with his friend through the stands next to the river, highlights that the far-right “has said that he will improve pensions and social security, while the rest are not sure what they were saying.”
The sense of smell of the politician, who has worked for 25 years in Parliament, has facilitated the turn, through rhetoric, from ultra leader towards apparent moderation. While the rest of the groups kept their electoral messages intact, he has cornered – as he claims – the confrontation at the expense of Islam and has touched two sensitive fibers: national identity and the pocketbook. G., who introduces himself like this and sells jewelry, explains that he voted for Wilders because he “is the only one willing to do what he promises.” “He talks about people. It is time for him to prove it, since he has won,” he adds.
A fact about the extent of Wilders’ pull: although he declares himself an agnostic – he comes from a Catholic family, but he is not – this Saturday it was learned that he has also garnered numerous votes in the so-called Bible belt of the Netherlands, the Calvinist majority area. “There he is very popular among youth,” geographer Josse de Voogd told public television.
A group of friends who play with their cell phones next to the Meuse, and do not want to give their names either, exclaim in unison that Wilders’ victory seems “inconceivable” to them. “He has been very smart, but how are they going to take him seriously abroad,” they exclaim. “We have not voted for him,” they say. They also highlight a detail shared by other interviewees: “Frans Timmermans [líder de la alianza entre ecologistas y socialdemócratas, GroenLinks-PvdA] woke up late. Election night, when she saw that there were seconds left [con proyecciones que les daban 25 escaños] “He spoke with the emotion and strength that he should have used before.” Timmermans congratulated Wilders and then shouted at the top of his lungs. “We will not exclude anyone: there is room for everyone in this country,” said the former vice president of the European Commission. Afterwards, he vowed to exercise vigorous opposition. “We will have to see if a center-right coalition ends up being formed, as Wilders intends. If not, there may be a Government that lasts a year and then other elections,” they say from the group of friends.
“[Wilders] He is very good with social networks and that has earned him more votes,” they all admit. The problems in reaching an agreement have worsened since Dilan Yesilgöz, head of the right-wing liberals (VVD), said that she prefers not to be in the next Cabinet. Although she has achieved third place, with 24 deputies, as she has lost 10, Yesilgöz maintains that she will provide her support from outside. “I think it is a tactical maneuver to negotiate from a more favorable position. I don’t see her making an agreement with someone like Timmermans or with the left,” says Jan.
Radjan, an engineer and also a Wilders voter, believes that the radical leader has a chance of being prime minister. “I don’t think it’s that extreme, there are other parties with which he will have to negotiate and they will act as a counterweight,” he says. “All changes are difficult to accept,” Radjan continues.
One of the candidate parties to negotiate the new Government is the New Social Contract, recently created by the former Christian Democrat Pieter Omtzigt. Declared to be centrist – and whose leader has shown in the past his refusal to agree with the extreme right – he came in fourth position, with 20 seats. He has not yet made a clear statement about his disposition, but after the withdrawal of the VVD, the leader of the centrists has said that he sees the agreement with the ultra “very difficult.”
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