Marine Le Pen has welcomed Geert Wilders’ victory in the Dutch election as it means more challenges for Macron, GB News reported.
The National Rally leader took to social media after Wilders won 20 seats, bringing the Freedom Party’s total to 37.
“Congratulations to Geert Wilders and the PVV for their spectacular performance in the legislative elections which confirms the growing attachment to the defence of national identities. It is because there are people who refuse to see the national torch extinguished that the hope for change remains alive in Europe.”
Wilders received about 23.5 per cent of the vote, with particularly high support in rural and coastal areas. The result is likely to impact Le Pen’s National Rally as French voters continue to turn against Macron.
Macron’s Renaissance Party, which was running in line with the National Rally in 2019, is now nine points behind. The French president, who recently criticised the two-term limit, soundly defeated Le Pen in the last two general elections.
Macron won the second vote by a margin of 10 million votes in 2017, but his lead has shrunk to five million in 2022. Opinion polls ahead of France’s 2027 presidential election are sparse, but the latest Odoxa survey shows Le Pen will beat Macron by a ratio of 54 per cent to 46 per cent.
Support for the Dutch Freedom Party has surged since Mark Rutte stepped down as prime minister over a dispute on immigration. Despite leading the Freedom Party to its best result ever, it is unclear whether Wilders will succeed the Netherlands’ longest-serving prime minister.
The centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) appears to have fallen victim to a revolt of the left and right after it lost 10 seats, returning just 24 MPs, and slipped to the third position.
Pieter Omtzigt’s New Social Contract, founded in August 2023, came fourth with 20 seats and 12.8 per cent of the vote.
However, Wilders may struggle to form a coalition that will give him the 76 MPs, needed to become prime minister, due to his hardline populist positions. He has compared the Koran to Mein Kampf, demanded an end to the building of mosques in the Netherlands, wants to ban people from holding dual citizenship and plans to reject any apology for slavery.
Wilders has also proposed a referendum on leaving the European Union and is considered a supporter of “Nexit.” The situation could mean that Dutch voters will go to the polls again if long and protracted negotiations prove unsuccessful.
His best chance of becoming prime minister will appear if the VVD and the New Social Contract form a right-wing coalition. However, such a situation seems unlikely, given the fierce opposition to Wilders from the more liberal-minded members of the VVD, especially due to his anti-Islamic views.
