Populist leader of Freedom party insists on government role after election breakthrough

The Netherlands’ Muslim-baiting maverick Geert Wilders has staked a strong claim to a seat in a new Dutch cabinet after almost tripling his party's parliamentary presence in an election breakthrough.

Wilders, the leader of the Freedom party, increased its seats from nine to 24 in the 150-seat second chamber in The Hague, seven fewer than the winning rightwing liberals of the VVD and six seats behind the Dutch Labour party.

“We want to be part of the new government. Nobody can bypass the PVV [Freedom party] any more,” declared the tall populist with the shock of white hair, after pushing the Netherlands' traditionally ruling Christian democrats into a humiliating fourth place in the general election.

Wilders appeared serious about insisting on a government role, promptly dropping campaign insistence on keeping the retirement age at 65 in an attempt to narrow differences with the liberals, who have pledged to raise it to 67 as well as big spending and welfare cuts.

The election, called a year early after the centrist coalition collapsed in February over Afghanistan, revealed a political spectrum fragmented as seldom before and thoroughly polarised, making it difficult to construct a majority.

“A complicated puzzle,” said Mark Rutte, the leader of the VVD liberals, who won the election for the first time in the modern era. Rutte will be prime minister and has said he wants a government formed by next month. That looks unlikely and it is not at all clear who he will govern with.

Read more >> | Geert Wilders on course for Dutch cabinet seat | World news | The Guardian.