Geert Wilders’ Party For Freedom (PVV) is on course to win the most seats in the Dutch legislature, the preliminary vote count in the country’s snap parliamentary election indicates.
The right-wing populist party is projected to win 37 seats in the 150-seat lower house, becoming the largest force in the legislature. The party appears likely to win two more seats than predicted by exit polls on Wednesday night.
The PVV now is projected to more than double its 2021 general election result, when it won 17 seats.
The comfortable win has been celebrated by Wilders, who said the result had clearly shown his party could no longer be “ignored” by other political forces.
“I address other parties; the campaign is over, and the voters have spoken. Now we need to find similarities with each other. We need to work together,” Wilders said during a public address after the first results were announced. He added that people were “fed up” and “want the Dutch to be in first place again.”
The politician appeared to soften his anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic rhetoric, which has repeatedly caused controversy and even legal trouble, insisting he would prioritize fixing the nation’s own problems.
“I am hopeful. I understand that parties do not want a government that acts contrary to the constitution. We won’t do that. We won’t talk about mosques, the Quran or Islamic schools. We will talk about giving priority back to the Dutch, the hope of the Dutch,” Wilders told public broadcaster NOS in a statement.
It remains unclear whether the PVV will be able to form a government in which Wilders becomes prime minister, given that some of major mainstream Dutch parties have been reluctant to work with the PVV.