Economy

Who is Geert Wilders, the surprise victor of the Dutch election?

.ON NOV 22ND Geert Wilders's anti-immigrant Party for Flexibility (PVV) ended up first in the Dutch basic vote-casting, winning 37 of the 150 chairs in assemblage, or 23.6% of the ballot. His triumph was actually a huge unpleasant surprise. Yet the beneficiary of this particular sudden turn to the difficult right is actually no startup. The 60-year-old Mr Wilders is actually the longest-serving MP in the Dutch assemblage, having met 1998 as a member of the centre-right Liberals (VVD). He quit that gathering in 2004 over what he considered its own softness towards Islam, and also founded the PVV in 2006. He has constantly had a sound bottom of voter support, yet has devoted his legislative occupation mainly on the sidelines, shut out of effect by other events' refusal to partner with him. Currently there is actually a good chance that this will modify.