A center-left list formed by the Greens and Social Democrats, GL-PvdA, led by Frans Timmermans, will have won eight of the 31 seats corresponding to the Netherlands in the European Parliament, which has a total of 720 members for five-year terms.
Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) is close, reaching 7 seats, 6 more than it currently holds, according to the exit poll of around 20,000 voters published by national broadcaster NOS.
The official results will only be known on Sunday night, when the last European Union (EU) polling station closes, which leaves open the possibility of these two political groups exchanging some seats.
Polls suggest, however, that they are the parties with the greatest representation and it will be a big gain in seats for Wilders’ radical right, as it currently only had one seat.
Wilders caused a shock across Europe six months ago by becoming the largest party in the Dutch national parliament and is now trying to capitalize on that popularity, with his agenda calling for powers to be returned to the capitals and away from the European Union (E.U. ), so that Member States have more autonomy on issues such as migration.
Like many far-right parties across the bloc, Wilders wants to gain more powers in the European Parliament, so he can weaken EU institutions from within, according to the Associated Press (AP).
“We need to have a strong presence in the European Parliament and ensure that, if necessary, we will be able to change European guidelines so that we can be responsible for our own immigration policy and asylum policy,” Wilders stressed after voting in The Hague.
Wilders, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French opposition leader Marine Le Pen stand in stark contrast to much of the left and many centrist parties, who call for a more united European approach on everything from relative measures from climate change to defense, arguing that individual nations only have a weak voice on the global stage.
Since the last EU elections in 2019, populist, far-right and extremist parties now lead governments in three EU countries, are part of governing coalitions in several others and appear to have growing public support across the continent.
In Portugal, Chega quadrupled the number of deputies elected in the March legislative elections compared to the last legislative elections, in 2022, and exceeded one million votes, which led the party president to speak of a “historic result”.
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2576126/europeias-extrema-direita-e-centro-esquerda-empatados-nos-paises-baixos
