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Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders has abandoned his bid to become Prime Minister, despite his party's (PVV) unprecedented victory in the 2023 elections. Announcing this decision on his social networks, he cited a lack of consensus around his support. «I can only become prime minister if ALL parties in the coalition support it. That was not the case», he wrote on X.
Although the Freedom Party (PVV) won the most votes in the last general election, the nationalist party needs the support of other parties to form a coalition government. Negotiations are continuing with three other parties, reports the BBC. «I would like a right-wing cabinet. Less asylum and immigration. Dutch people first. The love for my country and voters is great and more important than my own position», Wilders wrote in his post on Wednesday evening.
For months, the PVV leader has been in talks with the center-right liberal VVD party, the New Social Contract (NSC), and the BBB farming parties. The latter three have insisted that the only way for them to achieve a political rapprochement with the PVV, within the framework of an executive, would be for the leaders of the four parties to agree not to play a role in the future government, according to Dutch public broadcaster NOS. A parliamentary debate on the issue is expected on Thursday.
Kim Putters, who is now leading the negotiations, is due to present his conclusions to the elected representatives. He is expected to announce the formation of a minority government, with an «extra-parliamentary cabinet», says the BBC. This means that none of the four party leaders in the coalition would hold a ministerial post, but they would remain MPs. Supported by the leader of the New Social Contract, Pieter Omtzigt, as well as the VVD, in the person of Dilan Yesilgöz, this formula gives greater power to Parliament.
The last time a prime minister did not come from the party with the most votes in the Dutch government was in the 1980s. The PVV's victory in 2023 not only shook up Dutch politics but also had repercussions throughout Europe, the Netherlands being one of the founding members of what became the European Union.
