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Dutch Muslims Fearful for Future as Geert Wilders Wins Elections

The far-right and anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) has won a dramatic victory in the Dutch general elections, sparking fears among members of the Muslim community.

The PVV won 37 seats out of 150, well ahead of 25 for a joint Labour/Green ticket and 24 for the conservative Peopleโ€™s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the partial results showed on Thursday.

โ€œThese election results are shocking for Dutch Muslims,โ€ said Muhsin Kรถktas of the Contact Body for Muslims and Government, The Guardian reported.

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โ€œWe did not expect such a party with a program that is against the basic principles of the rule of law to be so big.โ€

Thursdayโ€™s results make the PVV the first right-wing populist party to ever win parliamentary elections.

Muslims Fears

Now, it seeks to form a coalition with at least two other parties to take the majority and appoint a prime minister.

As the leader of the PVV, Wilders has long taken aim at Islam, describing it as a fascist ideology of โ€œa retarded cultureโ€ and a โ€œbackward religionโ€.

Since 2004, he has been under police protection and in 2016 was convicted of discrimination after he called Moroccans โ€œscumโ€ at a campaign rally.

The partyโ€™s manifesto includes a ban on mosques, the Qurโ€™an and Islamic headscarves in government buildings.

โ€œThe distress and fear are enormous,โ€ Habib el-Kaddouri, who heads an organization representing Dutch Moroccans, told Dutch news agency ANP.

โ€œWe are afraid that he will portray us as second-class citizens.โ€

Islam is the second largest religion in the Netherlands, practiced by 4% of the population according to 2010-11 estimates. Most reside in the nationโ€™s four major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht.