Just as a heads-up for American readers:
That doesn’t mean the far-right party lost. They don’t go home with nothing. They go to the European Parliament with 7 seats, the fact that the Labour-Green alliance has 1 more doesn’t change anything.
Polls predicted both to be at around 8 seats. Exit polls have PVV at 7, Labour-Greens at 8, with a margin of error of 1. So pretty much what was expected.
Whether one or the other is larger is mostly irrelevant, as that only pertains to the Dutch share of seats in the European Parliament - there are way more seats to be assigned, and there will not be an absolute majority for anyone anyway.
It’s still pretty scary though. The far right wasn’t usually this close to the top. It’s like whole political center has been obliterated. Which, to be fair, is something they kinda caused themselves. People have lost trust in the government and are more and more just putting their faith in populists. I’m happy we’re at least somewhat matching that with a progressive/left/green vote, but still, scary times.
Just as a heads-up for American readers:
That doesn’t mean the far-right party lost. They don’t go home with nothing. They go to the European Parliament with 7 seats, the fact that the Labour-Green alliance has 1 more doesn’t change anything.
Good info! But the take away is also that it wasn’t a landslide victory for the far-right, which a lot of people thought it might be.
Polls predicted both to be at around 8 seats. Exit polls have PVV at 7, Labour-Greens at 8, with a margin of error of 1. So pretty much what was expected.
Whether one or the other is larger is mostly irrelevant, as that only pertains to the Dutch share of seats in the European Parliament - there are way more seats to be assigned, and there will not be an absolute majority for anyone anyway.
It’s still pretty scary though. The far right wasn’t usually this close to the top. It’s like whole political center has been obliterated. Which, to be fair, is something they kinda caused themselves. People have lost trust in the government and are more and more just putting their faith in populists. I’m happy we’re at least somewhat matching that with a progressive/left/green vote, but still, scary times.