Nationalist victory a punishment for "arrogance and stupidity" of NL's leaders, FVD leader says

FvD leader Thierry Baudet believes that his party's victory in the Provincial States election is punishment for the "arrogance and stupidity" of the Netherlands' current leaders. In his victory speech he emphasized that FvD is now one of the largest parties in the country, and that a change has been set in motion. "Economic and political capitulation is coming to an end", he said, NOS reports.

"We have been called to the front because our country needs us", Baudet said. He spoke of sustainability idolatry and climate witchcraft, and strongly criticized various aspects of Prime Minister Mark Rutte's policy, which he called economic nonsense. Baudet also said that he won't be "closing little deals in back rooms with Rutte", and called for new parliamentary elections.

The right-wing party is the big winner of the Provincial States election on Wednesday. According to ANP's current prognosis, the FvD will get 12 seats in the Eerste Kamer, from their current zero seats. The winners of Wednesday's election will not only take their places in government at the provincial level, they will also select the composition of the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate. That will take place in May, with new members taking office on June 11. The outgoing members will conduct their final scheduled official business on June 4.

VVD Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the Netherlands will remain well manageable, even though his coalition is losing its majority in the Eerste Kamer. "That means drinking a lot of coffee to work on getting us a majority in the Senate", he said, according to NOS. He did not want to express a preference for cooperation with a specific party. Rutte emphasized that the VVD is still the largest party in the Netherlands, and according to him, the only real people's party that connects people. According to ANP's prognosis, the VVD will get 12 seats in the Senate, the same as FvD.

GroenLinks was the other big winner in this election. Party leader Jesse Klaver spoke of a great result in what he calls the "climate elections". He said that he will keep Rutte to he promises he made about the climate. Klaver added that the cabinet now has to choose between cooperation with GroenLinks of FvD. He sees no possibility of GroenLinks and FvD working together.

PVV leader Geert Wilders is satisfied with the result. His party will end up with six seats in the Senate, according to ANP's prognosis. "Now that a new party with a sound similar to ours has gone to 10 seats at once, our loss is limited", he said. He complimented Baudet on his campaign, and emphasized that the "unique PVV sound" will continue to sound in the Senate. "And six seats is not nothing."

D66 leader Rob Jetten acknowledged that his party was put back a step, but stressed that the election result is better than it seemed a few month ago. He pointed out that the political landscape has become even more fragmented.

CDA leader Sybrand Buma also referred to the fragmentation of the political landscape. According to him, his party beat the polls again.

Gert-Jan Segers of ChristenUnie, the only coalition party that did not lose Senate seats in this election, said that his party's attitude has paid off. According to him, his party managed to both take responsibility and not abandon its ideals. The Christian party leader called on other parties to cooperate with the government, now that the coalition lost its Senate majority.

According to PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher, his party may be losing a seat in the Senate, but won in gained confidence. He emphasized that the PvdA performed better than it did in the parliamentary- and city councils elections. He also said that his party would support good plans and vote against bad ones.

SP leader Lilian Marijnissen acknowledged that this was not "the SP's elections". She expected that it would be difficult, and emphasized that the previous Provincial States election four years ago produced the second best result in the history of her party. According to Marijnissen, there is no clear explanation for the loss. She also mentioned the fragmentation of the political landscape, and the rise of what she calls "protest parties.

Animal party PvdD leader Marianne Thieme is pleased that her party seems to have come out of the "political battlefield" with an extra seat in the Senate. According to her, the animal party continues to grow steadily. Other parties can no longer ignore her and she is open to consultation, she said.

50Plus leader Henk Krol is "over the moon" with the results. He doesn't mind that his party is not making huge progress, steady growth is better, he said, according to NOS.

SGP leader Kees van der Staaij thinks that the Senate will again become an "exciting story", with Prime Minister Rutte again having to cooperate with other parties. He said that the SGP will continue to support good plans.

Selçuk Öztürk of DENK stressed that his party is now entering the Senate for the first time. According to him, DENK can give opposition against parties like FvD and PVV and their xenophobic ideas.