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Netherlands votes again: Wilders’ future in jeopardy!
On October 29, 2025, the Dutch will elect their parliament again. Central topics are asylum, migration, and health costs.
Netherlands votes again: Wilders’ future in jeopardy!
The mood in today's Dutch elections is tense and the electorate is hoping for change. After almost two years, around 13 million Dutch people who are eligible to vote are back at the polls to elect their parliament. The situation is complex because 27 parties have submitted their candidacies, including 15 that are currently sitting in parliament. What is interesting is that there is no threshold clause, which means that many small parties can enter with only a few MPs. sueddeutsche.de reports that ...
This year there is a neck-and-neck race between Geert Wilders' populist Party for Freedom (PVV) and other parties. Wilders' PVV was the strongest force in 2023 with 37 seats and headed a coalition that collapsed after just eleven months due to a dispute over asylum laws. The non-party Prime Minister Dick Schoof offered his resignation, which led to these early elections.
The themes of the election campaign
Which issues are particularly important to voters? The election campaign mainly revolves around asylum, migration, the housing crisis and rising healthcare costs. The Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. This leads to high rents in cities, especially in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. According to polls, immigration, health, crime and the cost of living are the focus of voters' interests. Attention is also paid to key issues such as the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Despite some public protests, climate policy remains a rather marginal issue.
Wilders faces political accusations that he may have deliberately caused the collapse of the last coalition. The leader of the liberal VVD, Dilan Yesilgöz, described his behavior as “extremely irresponsible”. Some incidents during the election campaign also made headlines: PVV MPs spread AI-generated images of Frans Timmermans that were defamatory. Timmermans has announced legal consequences for this step. However, Wilders distanced himself from these events and apologized to Timmermans.
The prospects and possible prime ministers
Who could form the next government? The polls show that although the PVV remains popular, no major party wants to form a coalition with it. The center party NSC currently seems to have no chance, and the farmers' protest party BBB could also lose votes. Potential prime ministers are Frans Timmermans from GroenLinks-PvdA, Rob Jetten from D66, Henri Bontenbal from the CDA and Dilan Yesilgöz from the VVD.
One thing is certain: forming a government will probably take several months as none of the parties will achieve a clear majority. The last time a government was formed took 223 days. So the electorate still has a lot ahead of them and some surprises could accompany the evening of the election. wdr.de writes that ...