Political drama in the Netherlands: With the closing of the ballot boxes in the elections for the local parliament, it appears that the "Party for Freedom" led by Geert Wilders won the majority of seats. This is the extreme right-wing party in the country, which strongly opposes immigration and has been leading a clear anti-Islamic line in recent years.
After counting almost all the votes, it appears that Wilders' party won 37 of the 150 seats in parliament, thus doubling his strength from the 17 seats he won in the previous elections. In second place came the union of the left parties of the Labor Party and the Greens, which finished with 26 seats. The current ruling party, the "People's Party for Freedom and Democracy" (VDD), received only 24 seats in the polls.
Despite Wilders' achievement, he is expected to have difficulty in his efforts to form a government - this is in light of the fact that many parties declared during the elections that they would not sit with him in a coalition, including the VDD party, which is considered a center-right party. Despite this, the 60-year-old Wilders already gave a victory speech tonight and said that "the people have spoken - we will return the Netherlands to the Dutch people, and we will stop the waves of immigration."
Geert Wilders is considered a fierce opponent of political Islam and illegal immigration to Europe, when in the past he called for the deportation of immigrants from Morocco, to prevent the establishment of mosques in the Netherlands and to ban the wearing of Muslim religious symbols in public spaces in the country. He also called for the Netherlands to withdraw from the European Union, but admitted that "today there is no desire for it among the people." In the run-up to the elections, he moderated his statements, but still said that he supports preventing the entry of refuge seekers into the Netherlands.
Wilders is also considered an ardent supporter of Israel, and even worked for a year in Israel in the 1980s. During his victory celebrations, the Israeli flag was seen waving in his office, and he said that he would work to move the Dutch embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.