The leadership of a Dutch party being courted by Islamophobic white nationalist MP Geert Wilders to form the working coalition he needs to ascend to the premiership abruptly fucked off Tuesday, leaving Wilders and his far-right extremist Freedom Party adrift for the time being, AFP reports.
Anti-corruption guy Pieter Omtzigt’s New Social Contract (NSC) party announced they were “finished” with the current round of coalition talks, though Omtzigt said they would remain “constructive” and did not foreclose coming back to the table. At this point however there’s a possibility Wilders could be frozen out if the Labor-Green alliance are able to form a coalition.
Wilders also publicly floated calling for another general election – and probably wants to given polls showing his party only growing in popularity – but AFP’s article doesn’t explain whether that option is available to him now or if/when the other guys’ shot at building a coalition fails.
Neither does Bloomberg’s Wednesday article about it, which also contains a mistake: “Right-wing parties have found a natural habitat in opposition – using the mainstream government as a battering ram and a foil for their populist policies. But once you start winning elections, it becomes a different story, and Wilders’s struggles are being felt in other nationalist corners of Europe,” they wrote, as if this kind of shitshow is only happening in Europe. Good insight otherwise though.