PVV lose popularity in European Elections

According to the latest polls, Geert Wilders and his PVV party are going to lose big in the European elections. Geenstijl and Ipsos peg D66 for the win.

Wilders himself is blaming low voter-turnout for the loss, though apart from one other time this year's elections have had the biggest turnout since 1989. According to Elsevier, the problem is the manner with which Wilders has approached this election cycle that is seeing the PVV losing followers. The exit-poll has predicted that the PVV might lost two seats, landing at three.

This year, the PVV has sought support amongst extreme right-wing nationalist parties. The French Front National is still clouded in its historical outings of anti-Semitism. The fact that Wilders chose to associate his party with these European players caused for some controversy.

Up until recently, Wilders himself spoke out against these kinds of parties, with extremist ideologies. Suddenly, however, he did choose to side with them. Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher criticized Wilders earlier this month for working together with "creeps" in European politics for money and security, because if parties from at least seven countries make up one fraction, they receive a subsidy from the European Parliament.

Elsevier states that Wilders has always emphasize national needs, and that working together with these parties to fill the party kitty has put his trustworthiness in jeopardy.

Wilders' anti-Moroccan speech are still a sore spot as well. Surveys show that 43 percent of Dutch people agree with him on the issue of the density of Moroccans among the Dutch population, meaning that there are too many of them, but it is still a rather extreme ticket to run on.

Recently, he has also landed in hot water for his anti-Islam stickers, that have caused a threat of sanctions from Saudi Arabia.