Dutch election winner Geert Wilders is anti-Islam firebrand known as the Dutch Trump

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — He’s been known as the Dutch Donald Trump. He’s been threatened with demise numerous occasions through Islamic extremists, convicted of insulting Moroccans, and Britain as soon as banned him from coming into the nation.

Now Geert Wilders has gained a large victory in a Dutch election and is in pole place to shape the subsequent governing coalition and in all probability transform the Netherlands’ subsequent top minister.

An go out ballot revealing his landslide gave the impression to take even 60-year-old political veteran Wilders through marvel.

In his first response, posted in a video on X, previously Twitter, he unfold his palms vast, put his face in his palms and stated merely “35!” — the selection of seats an go out ballot forecast his Party for Freedom, or PVV, gained in the 150-seat decrease area of parliament.

Wilders, together with his fiery tongue has lengthy been one in all the Netherlands’ best-known lawmakers at house and in a foreign country. His populist insurance policies and surprise of peroxide blond hair have drawn comparisons with Trump.

But, in contrast to Trump, he gave the impression destined to spend his existence in political opposition.

The most effective time Wilders got here just about governing used to be when he supported the first coalition shaped through Prime Minister Mark Rutte in 2010. But Wilders didn’t officially sign up for the minority management and taken it down after simply 18 months in workplace in a dispute over austerity measures. Since then, mainstream events have kept away from him.

They not can.

“The PVV wants to, from a fantastic position with 35 seats that can totally no longer be ignored by any party, cooperate with other parties,” he advised cheering supporters at his election party in a small bar in a running elegance suburb of The Hague.

Whether he can piece in combination a strong coalition with former political foes is still observed.

As smartly as alienating mainstream politicians, his fiery anti-Islam rhetoric additionally has made him a goal for extremists and resulted in him dwelling beneath round-the-clock coverage for years. He has gave the impression in courtroom as a sufferer of demise threats, vowing by no means to be silenced.

Voting Wednesday at The Hague City Hall, Wilders used to be flanked through burly safety guards scanning the cavernous house for conceivable threats. He has moved from one protected area to every other over just about twenty years.

In 2009, the British executive refused to let him discuss with the nation, pronouncing he posed a risk to “community harmony and therefore public security.” Wilders were invited to Britain through a member of Parliament’s higher area, the House of Lords, to turn his 15-minute movie “Fitna,” which criticizes the Quran as a “fascist book.” The movie sparked violent protests round the Muslim global in 2008 for linking Quranic verses with pictures of terrorist assaults.

To courtroom mainstream citizens this time round, Wilders toned down the anti-Islam rhetoric and sought to focal point much less on what he calls the “de-Islamization” of the Netherlands and extra on tackling hot-button problems such as housing shortages, a cost-of-living disaster and get admission to to just right well being care.

His marketing campaign platform however requires a referendum on the Netherlands leaving the European Union, an “asylum stop” and “no Islamic schools, Qurans and mosques,” even though he pledged Wednesday evening to not breach Dutch rules or the nation’s charter that enshrines freedom of faith and expression.

Wilders is set to transform the longest-serving lawmaker in the Dutch parliament later this yr. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1998, first for the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, the place he mentored a tender Rutte sooner than quitting the celebration and putting in place his Party for Freedom. He demonstrated a softer aspect Wednesday evening through thanking his Hungarian-born spouse Krisztina for her fortify.

He additionally is a staunch supporter of Israel and advocates moving the Embassy of the Netherlands there to Jerusalem and shutting the Dutch diplomatic post in Ramallah, house of the Palestinian Authority.

Wilders is known for his hardline politics, but in addition for his witty one-liners. And his pets. His two cats, Snoetje and Pluisje, have their very own account on X, previously Twitter, with just about 23,000 fans.