Geert Wilders bags stunning victory in Dutch elections, suggests exit poll

Dutch far-right populist Geert Wilders, who has courted controversy for his anti-Islam remarks and has vowed to halt all immigration to the Netherlands, has bagged a stunning victory in the election, suggested exit polls on Wednesday (Nov 22).

"We will have to find ways to live up to the hopes of our voters, to put the Dutch back as number one", Wilders said in his first response, adding that "the Netherlands will be returned to the Dutch, the asylum tsunami and migration will be curbed."

The exit poll put Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) at 35 out of 150 seats in parliament, which was nineseats ahead of the closest rival, former European Union Commissioner Frans Timmermans' Labour/Green Left combination.

Even though Wilders appears to have succeeded in the polls, it is not as of now clear if he will be able to garner the required backing for a broad enough coalition to form a functional government.

"I call on the parties... Now we will have to look for agreements with each other," Wilders told cheering supporters.

"The PVV can no longer be ignored," he said.

'Tsunami of asylum-seekers'

The main focus of Wilders' election campaign was to put a pause on immigration, with suggested moveslikeborder closures and deporting illegal immigrants.

"The Dutch hope that the people can get their country back and that we will ensure that the tsunami of asylum-seekers and immigration is reduced," Wilders said in his victory speech.

Earlier, during a television debate on the election day, Wilders had said, "It's enough now. The Netherlands can't take it anymore. We have to think about our own people first now. Borders closed. Zero asylum-seekers."

Anti-Islam comments

Wilders has been under fire and hastriggeredprotests in the country over his anti-Islam views.

He has called the prophet Mohammad a "paedophile", and Islam a "fascist ideology" and "backward religion", and also wants to impose a ban on mosques and the Quran in the Netherlands.

Orban hails 'winds of change'

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban congratulated Wilders and hailed the "winds of change" after the exit poll results were out.

"The winds of change are here! Congratulations to @geertwilderspvv
on winning the Dutch elections," he wrote in a posting on his official X account.

(With inputs from agencies)