A precursor to future election results?
Netherlands has re-elected Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the VVD party for a third consecutive term. The Dutch have clearly displayed how they were unimpressed by the anti-immigrant and misguided populist rhetoric of Geert Wilders, leader of the “Party of freedom”, who came in as a distant second. The result came as a surprise as most analysts had deemed the competition neck and neck and too close to call, similar to UK’s Brexit vote and the US Presidential elections.
The Dutch election result is a welcome break from the west’s move towards the extreme right as exemplified most profoundly by Donald Trump who through demagoguery and outlandish behaviour sold the lie of change he would bring to lives of the left out sections of Americans who felt disenfranchised after eight years of the Obama administration.
Through similar fear mongering and fact twisting the UK decided to exit the European Union (EU) in a very close referendum. The main issue in Brexit was the immigration debate. The leave voters wanted a curb on people coming in from the EU and the result of the referendum has left the fate of those EU immigrants already in the UK uncertain.
In both cases there have been interventions by their respective judicial systems to either stop or delay the anti-immigration policies. The Supreme Court in the UK decided that invoking article-50 to start Brexit needs Parliament’s approval. Similarly both of Trump’s travel bans of Muslim countries have been halted by the courts.
Felicitations have poured in from rest of Europe as they breathe a sigh of relief over the Dutch election result, particularly from France and Germany as both countries have elections coming up this year with right wing anti-immigration candidates contesting.
Netherland’s election win may have broken the right-wing’s election winning spree but it would be foolish to assume future European elections could have the same result which is why liberal, pro-immigration candidates need to reassess their strategies to appeal to the right’s captive audience as well.