Several Dutch political parties have backed the populist Geert Wilders to have another go at forming a government.
Almost three months after an election comfortably won by Wilders’ national-conservative Party for Freedom (PVV), talks on this new government have to be rebooted, after a major prospective partner suddenly backed out.
Since his party’s victory on November 22nd with a quarter of the vote, Wilders has been trying to form a coalition with the center-right People’s Party of Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) and the agrarian populist Farmer-Citizen movement (BBB). This would have created a comfortable majority of 88 seats in the 150-seat Lower House.
