Dutch Election Signals Win for Europeanists, But Populism Remains Prevalent

The world, and Europeans in particular, watched Wednesday’s Dutch parliamentary election as a litmus test for the populist movement across Europe and what it might foretell about upcoming elections in France and Germany.

Populist candidate Geert Wilders, who espouses anti-immigrant and anti-EU rhetoric, faired worse than expected, with his PVV party only winning an estimated 20 seats out of 150 in Parliament, coming in behind current Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s mainstream VVD party, which held on to about 33 seats. The Christian Democrats, the pro-European D66 party, and the GreenLeft party split the remaining seats with a number of other smaller parties.