Dutch far-right leader rises in polls after discrimination conviction

Survey finds party of anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders would become largest in lower house of parliament if elections were held today

By AFP 11 December 2016, 6:30 pm

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This photo taken on December 18, 2014 shows Dutch far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders standing at the Parliament building in The Hague. (AFP PHOTO / ANP / Evert-Jan Daniels)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The party of populist anti-Islam Dutch MP Geert Wilders has risen strongly in the polls since the lawmaker was tried and convicted of discrimination, according to a survey published Sunday.

If legislative elections due next March were held this week, Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) would pick up 36 out of 150 seats in the lower house of parliament, making it the biggest single political group, it found.

Before the trial began on October 31, the PVV was credited with 27 seats.

During the trial, but before his conviction on Friday, its estimated share rose to 34 seats. It currently has 12 lawmakers.

The new poll data comes from a weekly monitoring by the Maurice de Hond Institute.

Geert Wilders, leader of right-wing Dutch Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid - PVV), being pictured at the Senate (Tweede Kamer) at the Binnenhof in The Hague, The Netherlands on November 17, 2016. (AFP PHOTO / ANP / Bart Maat) — Geert Wilders, leader of right-wing Dutch Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid – PVV), being pictured at the Senate (Tweede Kamer) at the Binnenhof in The Hague, The Netherlands on November 17, 2016. (AFP PHOTO / ANP / Bart Maat)

It found that Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals would place second with 23 seats, against 40 today, and his junior coalition partners, the Labour Party (PvdA), would gain 10 seats, compared with 35 today.

Wilders was found guilty of discrimination against Moroccans but acquitted of hate speech over remarks he made at an election rally in March 2014.

He had asked supporters whether they wanted “fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands.” When the crowd shouted back “Fewer! Fewer!” a smiling Wilders answered: “We’re going to organize that.”

Wilders, 53, largely boycotted the trial, which he denounced as a political attempt to gag him.

(FromL) Judges Elianne van Rens, Henry Stone House and Sijbrand Wreath talk before rendering the verdict in the criminal case against populist Dutch MP Geert Wilders of the Party for Freedom (PVV), at Schiphol, Badhoevedorp, in the Netherlands, on December 9, 2016. (AFP PHOTO / ANP / Sander Koning / Netherlands OUT) — (FromL) Judges Elianne van Rens, Henry Stone House and Sijbrand Wreath talk before rendering the verdict in the criminal case against populist Dutch MP Geert Wilders of the Party for Freedom (PVV), at Schiphol, Badhoevedorp, in the Netherlands, on December 9, 2016. (AFP PHOTO / ANP / Sander Koning)

The judges were strongly critical of Wilders’ “inflammatory” remarks at the rally but decided not to impose any sentence or fine.

The outcome of the Dutch vote will be keenly watched given the anti-EU outcome of Britain’s Brexit referendum and the November election of populist Donald Trump as the next US president.

Wilders has among other things vowed to confiscate Qurans, close mosques and Islamic schools, shut the borders and ban migrants from Islamic countries.