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EU elections: Dutch vote reflects trends

Monday 08 June 2009

Far-right and nationalist parties have made gains in several countries in this weekend's election for the new European parliament, in line with the shift in the Netherlands on Thursday.

The result of the Dutch vote was announced last week. In the Netherlands, the anti-Islam, anti-EU PVV party headed by Geert Wilders was heralded the big winner with 17% of the vote. Nationalist and far-right parties also made gains in Britain, Austria, Denmark, Slovakia and Hungary.

In Europe as a whole, however, the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) looks set to continue to hold power. The Dutch Christian Democratic party CDA, which is a member of the EPP, emerged as the biggest party after the vote in Holland although support fell from seven to five seats.

PVV support

In the Netherlands, the traditional parties have been coming to terms with their losses. In particular, the Dutch Labour party (PvdA) was hard hit. It won just three of the Netherlands' 25 seats, compared with seven at the last election.

Labour is a member of the current coalition government but was criticised for a lacklustre campaign and sending out a mixed message. Labour parties also did badly in Britain, France, Germany and Austria, Nos tv reports.

Voters who left the PvdA voted instead for the Liberal Democrats D66 and left-wing greens GroenLinks, political analysts said. Both those parties, which are strongly pro-Europe, made gains in the Netherlands.

The anti-immigration PVV won its four seats with a switch in support from the right-wing Liberals (VVD), the strongly anti-Europe Socialist and the Christian Democrats, analysts told Nos tv.

The research shows that 10% of the supporters of fundamentalist Christian party SGP also voted for the PVV.

Italian voters

Meanwhile, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on its website on Sunday that a large number of Italian nationals in the Netherlands were unable to vote after officials told them they had opted to vote in last week's Dutch elections.

Europeans living in another European country could vote either in their country of origin or their place of residence. To vote twice is illegal and this year new checks had been introduced.

The Netherlands has some 25,000 Italian nationals and thousands were on the official list as having opted to vote in Holland, meaning they could not cast their vote abroad for an Italian candidate.

According to a DutchNews.nl poll, most non-Dutch Europeans had opted to vote in the Netherlands.

For the BBC's coverage of the European vote, click here

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Readers' comments

EPP is the highest!!! not the far right .....

By kwabena | June 8, 2009 7:18 AM

I dont really see any trend as you claim: 6 out of 27 states had some increase in vote for nationalist and far-right (extremism in disguise), That's too little to call it a trend. Even here in The Netherlands PVV won 4 out of 25 sits not too much (a bit alarming but during a crisis is understandable) As you said their voters were extremist anyway (only in different areas (e.g. Socialist and the Christian Democrats) I think they were more focused due to the crisis and nothing else.We need to recover fast from this crisis otherwise things can go wrong (the big recession from '29 brought Fascism and Nazism in Europe)

By Ada | June 8, 2009 9:18 AM

How is it that the PVV is considered a far right party when in the European parliament is member of the center party ALDE together with the D66?

Editors note. The PVV is not a member of ALDE. It has no seats in the European parliament at present and has said it will remain independent.

By Luigi | June 8, 2009 10:40 AM

The trend is a backlash because of the economic crisis and has nothing to do with a change in ideals and policies. Voter apathy (low voter turnout) confirms this.

Though the extremist far-right will claim otherwise, but the facts are that they always get a percentage and it appears higher than normal when the average citizens do not bother to show up - becuase radicals do.

As for The Netherlands and Wilders, 17 per cent says the far-right and those leaning to the right fed-up with government got out of bed and voted for Wilders.

What is more important is that 83 per cent did not, even with the apathy and low-voter turn out which by their nature would almost certainly not have voted for Wilders - thus we can easily cut his percentage by half or more.

Frankly speaking, like Ada has mentioned, it is voter apathy, economic depression and smart propoganda by extremists that can make things go wrong, such as National Socialism - Wilders is counting on that.

By Solkhar | June 8, 2009 11:09 AM

So, all you normal people - get out there and vote! Say something! Your vote only counts if you go and cast it. No complaining if you don't pariticipate!!

By Susan | June 8, 2009 5:38 PM

Why would economic crisis be excuse for choosing extremism? Yes, the Great Depression led to fascism and Nazism - but in Europe, not in US for example. Something similar is happening today - while Americans have opted for another "New Deal", in Europe we have xenophobia, "russiaphobia" and racism again. Maybe Europe is waiting for a new Hitler? I hope not.

By Marko | June 8, 2009 9:25 PM

Contrary to the assertion of some comments above, I really don't think the rise of the PVV has anything to do with the economic crisis.
Let alone the fact that the Netherlands is hit less hard by the financial crisis than most other countries, the rising popularity of the PVV was already going on before the start of the crisis. The main (one could say: only) point of the party isn't related to the economic crisis at all: it is an anti-muslim standpoint. It is in other words related to a rising muslim-phobia that has nothing to do with the financial crisis.

By Marco | June 9, 2009 8:00 AM

Geert Wilders is far different then BNP in UK or other so called far right groups. Geert Wilders is not a racist. BNP is. Geert Wilders is pro Israel, BNP is not. Geert Wilders is honest and consistant and that is what we want to see rule this country and kick the PVDA and other yahoos out of office for their ignorance and incompetence.

By sandra | June 9, 2009 1:44 PM

The growing support of Geert Wilders just goes to show that underneath the legendary Dutch tolerance resides an underlying shift towards a movement preying largely on hate and fear. The Dutch (and in fact, all Europeans) must come to terms with the fact that immigration is beneficial for their well-beings, and makes clear, economic sense. Fear of immigrants and a restriction on immigration will lead to an economically neutered Europe... This at a time when Europe is trying to position itself as a global power.

Ironically, the majority of support for Wilders comes from young adults. It is these people who would benefit most from immigration into their country. Without immigration to enhance future economic growth, Netherlands' youths and young adults will be relegated to a drone work force providing for an increasingly geriatric and marginalized Dutch welfare state.

By lola granola | June 10, 2009 1:28 PM

Why do peopl have to come up with fictitious ideas that it is slick propoganda or abnormal people that are the reason for the popularity of people like Wilders ? The fact is the "silent" Dutch are tired of watching their country go down the toilet and are opening their mouthes at the voting box.

By bet | June 10, 2009 2:33 PM

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