Posted on 03/15/2017 7:25:32 AM PDT by Dave346
Mr Wilders, the leader of the anti-Islamist Party for Freedom (PVV), is taking on Mr Rutte, from the Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), in the knife-edge election race.
The blonde populist has already cast his vote in the election after a fiery election campaign in which he pledged to shut the country's borders, ban the Koran and close mosques.
11am GMT update: Many PVV voters are backing Mr Wilders in order to rock the political establishment and voice their anger over sky-high immigration.
"I am voting for Wilders. I hope he can make a change to make the Netherlands better," said Wendy de Graaf, who was dropping off her kids at school in The Hague.
"I don't agree with everything he says...but I feel that immigration is a problem."
9.30am GMT update: Mr Wilders today denied claims that he had built his inflammatory election campaign on "bigotry and hate".
"Those are all lies. We have, I believe, the biggest support by the common Dutch people," he told Sky News this morning.
"The common Dutch people who are interested in getting their country back and returning our national sovereignty are hopefully voting today in huge amounts."
8.14am GMT update: Geert Wilders has cast his vote in the general election, surrounded by his security personnel, the media and photographers.
Ahead of voting this morning, Mr Wilders said: “I feel very optimistic. We want to take out country back.”
His emotive slogan is similar to the Brexit campaigners' rallying call for Britain to take back control from the EU during the referendum campaign.
After Mr Wilders cast his vote, he took an anti-migrant stand and said: “Muslims are free to leave the Netherlands whenever they want.”
(Excerpt) Read more at express.co.uk ...
It’s now past 4:30 pm in Amsterdam. Does anyone know when the polls close and how soon results are normally reported?
Polls close at 9PM...12 Million eligible to vote so it shouldn’t take as long as the US to count them...
I just found something else...
all the votes will be counted by hand ...
so it might take a while after all...
This will make it clear (hopefully) to the Dutch that there is only Geert vs The Establishment, with the Establishment wearing various masks.
++++
True. But isn’t the bottom line that even if Geert gets the most votes he will not be able to find any partners and it will “The Establishment” that will continue to rule.
Am I missing something?
I’ve seen some indication that his party might win 68 seats but 75 are required, if I’m understanding their parliamentary system correctly. It doesn’t sound as if there’s a huge gap needing to be covered to establish a coalition. Aren’t there numerous parties holding seats? It doesn’t sound as if he’d need to partner with the major party or parties to pull it together? I’m sure I’m missing something or failing to understand, but that’s how it appears to me from what I’ve read.
sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
It’s a long shot, but we won! hopefully they do too.
Thanks, so at least we can start checking for results after 3:00 pm CDT this afternoon. Maybe we’ll know before the bedtime of most Freepers.
About the only wildcard here is if Wilders were to take 28 percent (instead of 23 percent)...his party would win but be unable to form any coalition.
However, this would put the second-place winner at an odd position. The VVD Party would have to take on two parties as partners, and that would mean a weaker government in the long run.
All of this, with a weak gov’t and likely more immigration issues over the next five years, would put Wilders in a better position for 2022.
5y is too late.
BBC is thrilled - they think he is going to lose :-(
He told the truth.
These days truth = tactical error for politicians
But the people are tired of politicians and their bending or omitting of the truth.
That could never happen. The polls are all against him. Like they were against Brexit. Like they were against Trump. Remember? ;^)
I think you are correct. Wilders has no chance of forming a government. I was hoping he’d take first place though, but that seems to be an uphill struggle. I still think its an amazing achievement from him and his tiny party in this election so far. The omens are good for the near future imo.
Watch out for them ‘blonde populists’...
That’s pretty much it. And the prime minister ends up being the leader of the biggest party in the coalition.
Because Holland has a proportional representation system, as opposed to our winner take all system, you end up with a bunch of parties in the system with none ever getting even close to having a majority.
The government, the executive branch in our terminology, is led by someone elected as "leader" by that party under the title Prime Minister or Premier (see Canada). The leader him or herself is a member of parliament and has to be elected like everyone else from a single district (a "constituency" or sometimes a "riding" in British parlance). General elections where all the districts are contested can be mandated to occur within a period, like every five years, or the party in power can call one when they feel it's to their advantage, thus giving them some breathing room before they're required to stand for reelection. But alternatively if a government is in crisis over some policy flub and loses the support of the parliament in a lost "confidence vote" they can be kicked out of power and a new election held very quickly.
It is highly unlikely that Wilder's party will end up an absolute majority in the Dutch parliament. Not impossible, but it would be a monumental upset that makes Trump's seem small. And even if they have more seats than any other party it's likely the current king, Willem-Alexander, will ask the smaller parties to come together in coalition. It will be a mess, but a step forward that puts every politician on notice that the tide against the EU, Islamic immigration, and the rape of the common European is building.
As I understand it, it will be Very hard for him to form a coalition of enough member to have a majority.
But it’s a start and as terrorist attacks and rapes continue (which of course they will) they will become more popular.
Amazing how the American punks still go back to their upper income family home at night. With lots of food. And bills paid for them.
They should be living on reservations, in black neighborhoods, or sleeping in a tent at the border.
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