This is huge news in Europe:
The Liberals have won a narrow one-seat lead in the Dutch election, putting them in pole position to form a coalition.
With 88 per cent of the votes counted, published partial results showed the Liberals with 31 and Labour on 30.
But the real victory went to Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV), which demands an end to immigration from Muslim countries and a ban on new mosques. The PVV took its number of seats from nine in the last parliament to 24, and could hope to enter a coalition government.
It's important to keep in mind that, as in Australia and several other countries, the language has not been co-opted and the Liberals are actually the conservative party.
The far-right leader with his distinctive shock of fair hair called the result "magnificent".
"The impossible has happened," he told a televised party gathering. "We are the biggest winner today. The Netherlands chose more security, less crime, less immigration and less Islam."
The election ousted Christian Democrat Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende from eight years in office.
Look for this kind of thing to be repeated elsewhere in Europe.Change is in the air.
Perhaps their is someone in Europe who does not want to commit suicide after all. Kudos to the Dutch. Hopefully America will follow suit. "Less Islam" can only be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThomas Jefferson once said, to roughly paraphrase, "it does not matter if my neighbor believed in no gods or 20 gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." Islam "breaks the legs" and "picks the pockets" of those who don't submit to it. As such, if Mr. Jefferson were alive today, I think he would say that this is definitely something we would want to be wary of.