Boomerang effect ?: What weight was the rejection of Donald Trump in Holland in the triumph of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the defeat of the far right Geert Wilders

The domino effect seems to have become boomerang effect against populism.

The parliamentary elections held on Wednesday in the Netherlands aroused great interest because they were raised as a further battle between traditional politics and anti-system voting.

However, the victory of the current Prime Minister Mark Rutte, of the right-wing liberal party VVD, with 33 seats out of 150, put a stop to a trend that opened with the vote in favor of the UK’s exit from the European Union (the so-called Brexit) followed by the presidential victory of Donald Trump in the United States.

While the Party for Freedom (PVV) by populist and Islamist critic Geert Wilders has won five more seats than he had until his 20th position as the country’s second force, the controversial politician’s bet For following the wake of the Brexit and Trump did not curdle.

What’s more, can we say that he played against him?

Goodbye to the ghost of defeat or the tie

An exultant Mark Rutte described what happened this Wednesday in Holland as a «victory of democracy».

Rutte’s party has lost about 8 seats compared to the 2012 elections but the prime minister was still full.

More than with its result, the evident joy of the politician of The Hague, generally meager in the expression of its emotions, is related to the satisfaction of having left behind the ghost of a tie with Wilders.

Wilders, the person in charge

Rutte was one of many who compared Wilders’ potential win with Brexit and Trump’s presidency.

And this Wednesday was one of the first to take aim at stopping so much populism.

However, there are those who consider that more than virtue of Rutte, the person responsible for what happened to the PVV is Wilders himself.

«A few weeks ago it was quite clear that the PVV was not going to have as good a result as I expected,» international journalist and analyst Robert Chesal told the BBC Mundo from the Netherlands.

«This has a lot to do with the fact that Wilders canceled his participation in several debates and refused to talk to the press.

«I think he figured very badly that he could adopt Donald Trump’s model of closing down to the press. He started calling the journalists liars, declined to give interviews except to a select group,» Chesal adds.

«In addition, after a judicial verdict against him, he began to disqualify the judges.

«He followed the Trump manual and this turned against him,» says the reporter.
Donald Trump, dangerous amulet?

He is not the only one who has this opinion.

Analysts and experts who try to understand why the PVV has fallen short on their electoral expectations point to Donald Trump as one of the main ballasts.

Wilders insisted in recent weeks that he is not Donald Trump and tried to distance himself from the US president.

But the PVV leader participated in the US Republican Party convention. Last July, and in his campaign video appear the Brexit and Trump as examples to follow.

Kathleen Ferrier, a Dutch ex-parliamentarian for the Christian Democratic Party (CDA), recently told BBC World: «The fact that everyone believes that there is chaos in the US makes people who are in favor of something new in politics see That change has its very negative sides. «

The journalist Chesal totally agrees with the Dutch expolítica.

«People were scared to see the chaos and instability that there is in Washington and does not want that for Holland,» he says.
Europe is relieved

«The Dutch still want to build bridges instead of walls,» writes a Dutch girl on Facebook.

Many other anonymous users of the networks expressed their relief at the clear victory of the ruling party.

It must be emphasized that the night has not been disastrous for the PVV, which increases its parliamentary representation, but its rise is blurred by the rise of other parties, which are candidates to form a coalition government.

Wilders will not be an essential interlocutor and the German government soon expressed satisfaction through the Twitter account of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which reads:

«A large majority of Dutch voters have rejected the anti-European populists, which is good news, we need them for a strong Europe!

It is premature to venture if the Dutch have wanted to give an explicit vote of support to Europe with this electoral result.

What does seem clear is that the example of Brexit and the anticipation of a possible Nexit – as the possible departure of Holland from the EU was baptized – made the indecisive ones think.

«Brexit falls into the same pattern as Trump’s example,» says Robert Chesal.

«The Dutch see instability and chaos in how things are going. Even the traditional PVV voters do not like this idea.

«I think many supporters of Wilders and his message have not decided to vote this time because they are more afraid of the chaos and instability than the supposed threat of Islam.

«After all, instability is a much more serious and realistic threat,» he concludes.

Finally one can say that pragmatism was imposed.

Source.BBC