Could Geert Wilders help the Dutch provide the next election shock?

Could Geert Wilders help the Dutch provide the next election shock?

The next shock for liberal democracy may well come in the Netherlands next month.

The Dutch vote in a General Election on 15 March and the alt-right Freedom Party is currently the most popular party.

Geert Wilders is the 53-year-old leader of the PVV (Partij voor de Vrijheid) and he doesn't pull his punches.

In an interview for Sky News' All Out Politics show he told me that the Koran should be banned in the Netherlands on the same basis that Hitler's Mein Kampf is.

He claims the Islamic text advocates hatred and murder.


"(The Koran) is a document, not so much of hatred, only of incitement to violence," he said.

"I'm not a guy in the mood of banning books; that is not something you should do. But remember in my country… Mein Kampf is outlawed.

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"My point is, (with the Koran) you have another book of a totalitarian ideology - there is more anti-Semitism and incitement to violence than there is in Mein Kampf - so if you are consistent, at least do the same with another book with a totalitarian ideology."

Mr Wilders is also an admirer of Donald Trump, and has a similar elaborate hairdo - in his case dyed blond.

He supports the President's ban on entry to the US for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations.

The Netherlands has a substantial Islamic population because of its colonial past in Indonesia.

Mr Wilders says Muslims should only remain in his country if they abide by its codes of behaviour and do not follow Sharia law.

He told the programme: "We don't want to kick any Muslims out.

"Muslims who are in the Netherlands today and adhere to our constitution, our law and our values are welcome to stay and are as equal as anybody else.

"But if they start committing serious crimes, if they practice Sharia law, and if they are punished and sentenced for that and have a double nationality, as many in the Netherlands do, then we want them to be stripped of the Dutch nationality and sent away."

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He would also like to introduce Trump-style immigration controls - something not possible while the Netherlands is a member of the EU.

Mr Wilders admires what he sees as the decision to take back national control in the Brexit referendum.

If his party takes power after the election he wants his country to follow Britain and leave the European Union.

"I believe… we have lost our nation state in the process of more federalism in the EU," he said.

"It started with more economic co-operation and became a political project and we lost our sovereignty.

"I would like the Dutch to be in charge of their own immigration policy, their own financial policy, their own budget policy - like the United Kingdom decided last year."

In practice the chances of Mr Wilders becoming Prime Minister look slim, even if the PVV top the ballot.

They currently lead in opinion polls on 31%. But the Netherlands has a proportional representation system and the other leading parties on left and right say they will not work with him in a coalition.

Mr Wilders' opponents have accused him of "rattling the gates with a toxic cocktail of fear, hatred and division".

Rival PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher told the Netherlands Times: "We have to offer a social and decent alternative to a coalition with Wilders…"

In attacking Mr Wilders' slogan "Netherlands Ours Again", Mr Asscher added: "If you look at who he spits on - people with a non-Western background, Muslims, judges, scientists, parliamentarians, anyone who disagrees with him. Who is he referring to with 'ours'. Doesn't he simply mean himself?"

But Mr Wilders is already changing the terms of debate as to what it is acceptable to say in Dutch politics.

And he knows very well that, like him, Mr Trump was viewed as an outsider.