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 People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the partial results showed on Thursday.
“These election results are shocking for Dutch Muslims,” said Muhsin Köktas of the Contact Body for Muslims and Government, The Guardian reported.
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“We did not expect such a party with a program that is against the basic principles of the rule of law to be so big.”
Thursday’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 “a retarded culture” and a “backward religion”.
Since 2004, he has been under police protection and in 2016 was convicted of discrimination after he called Moroccans “scum” at a campaign rally.
The party’s manifesto includes a ban on mosques, the Qur’an and Islamic headscarves in government buildings.
“The distress and fear are enormous,” Habib el-Kaddouri, who heads an organization representing Dutch Moroccans, told Dutch news agency ANP.
“We are afraid that he will portray us as second-class citizens.”
Islam is the second largest religion in the Netherlands, practiced by 4% of the population according to 2010-11 estimates. Most reside in the nation’s four major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht.