Geert Wilders has sent shockwaves across the Netherlands – but rivals will try to squeeze him from power
The new era began in a meeting room that was too small to cope with the crowd.
At one end, a crush of journalists – cameras bashing into each other, reporters craning for a sight. And at the other – the man who has just shaken Dutch politics to its core.
Geert Wilders walked in to be greeted by the cheers of his colleagues. The room was allocated to his party when they only had 17 MPs; now they have more than double that. Little wonder the room was squashed.
They toasted their success with champagne, and all raised a glass to the health of the Netherlands. During his campaign, Wilders said he would always put his country first. It isn’t quite “Make the Netherlands Great Again” but it’s not far off.
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Dutch far-right leader celebrates result
Wilders has been in the public eye for decades now, but he’s never had a result like this. Not just the electoral victory that he craved, but a yawning margin over his rivals – 50% more seats than any other party. As his colleagues applauded, so he beamed.
Age has changed him – the shock of peroxide blond hair is now grey – but he still exudes confidence. Even his opponents admit, at least in private, that Wilders is a gifted orator.
We were at the far end of the room, jostling for space. A cameraman stood on a table next to me, which creaked under his weight. Questions had to be bellowed.
People talked over each other, MPs smiled at each other. For some this was their first day in a new job, and the adrenaline was flowing.
Read more on this story:
Migration a key issue for both left and right
Far-right leader celebrates as party claims most seats
So, I shout, what is the thing you would now like to achieve?
“One of the most important things we would like to do is, of course, to limit the influx of asylum and migration,” Wilders replies.
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Sky’s Adam Parsons asked Wilders what he wanted to change about the Netherlands
“That is one of the main themes that our campaign has tackled. That was certainly not the only theme, also about what it means for our welfare.
“Having more money in people’s pockets, receiving affordable and decent care, including care for the elderly. Having more safety on all those points on which we have campaigned is important to us. It is important for the Netherlands and we will remain grateful for a long time to come.”
We talked to Barry Madlener, who was first elected to parliament back in 2006 and now expresses a sense of shocked delight at the size of the victory.
“People came to us – they could see what a mess the country had got into. We understand the important things, like the cost of living and migration.
“I’m so happy for Geert,” he said, “because he has given so much for this. And you know, his life is not easy.”
Wilders’ unapologetic populism, as well as his life-long campaign against the influence of Islam, have led to him needing round-the-clock police protection.
It’s also meant that, for election after election, he was kept out of power. Mark Rutte, the previous prime minister, made it an article of faith that he wouldn’t do a deal with Wilders.
So what changed? In the Rotterdam district of Charlois, there is litter billowing around on the streets, blown by an icy wind. It’s the sort of weather where people walk around with heads down.
Here, we found lots of people who felt they’d been forgotten by politicians. Plenty told us they didn’t bother voting, “because nothing changes”. Those who did vote tended to go for Wilders.
Charlois in Rotterdam
‘Legitimacy’
Brian Held was walking his two young children. His brother has nowhere to live, and Brian is struggling with the cost of living. “Immigration is a big problem, because we don’t have enough houses and it’s just getting worse,” he told me.
Dutch voter Brian Held
Dr Linda Bos, an associate professor at the University of Amsterdam, thinks that by flagging up the mere prospect of a coalition, Rutte’s successor as head of the VVD, Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, gave him the legitimacy Wilders had long lacked.
Dr Linda Bos
“They made him a serious partner – a serious option – and he played the part very well,” she said. “He’s calm, he’s charismatic and he’s very good in debates. He’s our best debater in general.”
But for all the rhetorical skill and for all the glow of victory, Wilders still faces a struggle to turn electoral success into actual power. He will need to form a coalition to take control, and that won’t be easy.
Both of his potential partners – the VVD and the newly-formed NSC party – will be very reluctant to work under him. And rivals from the left will be suggesting their own versions of a coalition, trying to squeeze Wilders out of power even though he has the highest number of seats.
The negotiations are likely to be protracted and difficult. But, for the moment at least, the Netherlands still reverberates to a political shock. After decades in the margins, Wilders has seized the brightest part of the limelight.
World
Israeli president’s denial goes further than official response – but it doesn’t tally with background talks
President Isaac Herzog’s outright denial that Israel was behind the attacks on Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies goes further than the official Israel government response which, so far, has been to say nothing at all.
It’s not unusual for Israel to remain silent after major attacks on its enemies, and guilt is generally assumed by the absence of comment, but Herzog was definitive, saying he “rejects out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation”.
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‘Israel is not interested to be at war with Lebanon’
That does not square with background conversations I’ve had with political and security officials here in recent days.
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Admittedly no one has confessed outright, however discussion of the attacks and the potential consequences, are generally framed by a metaphorical nod and wink, and conversations had proceeded along the lines of ‘we all know what happened, even if we’re going to dance around it’.
Nearly 3,000 people were injured and 12 killed by the first round of pager explosions in Lebanon
Herzog might be right to suggest Hezbollah has other enemies, but aside from the US, which has repeatedly denied even knowing about the attacks ahead of time, I can not think of another state that would have the capability, will and purpose to carry out those attacks.
Read more:
How pagers can be modified to remotely explode
Israel’s long history of alleged secret operations
As one serving Western intelligence official remarked to me a few days ago, “None of us would dare do it because of the collateral damage”.
No one, not even Israel, has come up with an alternative culprit.
The timing of the attacks, were it not Israel, are too coincidental.
This came around the same time Israel announced it was entering a new phase in the north and then launched multiple heavy barrages of Lebanon, including a massive air strike in southern Beirut.
World
Fire rips through arms depot deep inside Russia after huge Ukrainian drone attack – as Zelenskyy prepares to meet Trump
A fire has ripped through a Russian missile depot in the Tver region deep inside the country after it was targeted in a Ukrainian drone attack, the defence ministry in Moscow has said.
Footage shows a second Ukrainian drone attack on the southwestern Russian region of Krasnodar also triggered a fire and caused a series of explosions.
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its forces shot down 101 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and occupied Crimea during the overnight attacks.
The drone strikes were carried out as Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskky said he is hoping to meet Donald Trump next week when he travels to the US – where he will present US President Joe Biden with a “victory plan” in relation to the war.
An explosion after the drone strike on the arms depot in Krasnodar
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister said Russia appears to be planning strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities before the winter.
Posts on local Telegram channels said a Ukrainian drone attack struck an arms depot near the town of Toropets, in Russia’s Tver region – which is about 380 kilometres (240 miles) northwest of Moscow and about 500 kilometres (300 miles) from the Ukrainian border on Saturday.
Russian authorities closed a 100-kilometre (62-mile) stretch of a highway and evacuated passengers from a nearby rail station.
The depot appeared to be just miles from a Russian weapons arsenal storing missiles, bombs and ammunition in Tver that was struck by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday, injuring 13 people and also causing a huge fire.
Flames rise after the strike on the Tver region on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
Meanwhile, at least 1,200 people were evacuated from Russia’s southwestern Krasnodar region after an ammunition depot and missile arsenal were struck in the second drone attack overnight, the local governor has said.
Most of those evacuated were staying with friends and relatives, Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Krasnodar region, said on the Telegram messaging app.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in either Tver or Krasnodar.
Ukraine warning of attacks on nuclear sites
It comes as Kyiv is urging the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Ukraine’s allies to establish permanent monitoring missions at the country’s nuclear plants as it warns they could be targeted in Russian attacks.
“In particular, it concerns open distribution devices at (nuclear power plants and) transmission substations, critical for the safe operation of nuclear energy,” foreign minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X.
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A mushroom cloud rises after the drone strike on Toropets in the Tver region. Pic: Reuters
Zelenskyy prepares for US trip
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leader has said he plans to meet Republican presidential candidate Mr Trump on either Thursday or Friday next week.
During the trip, Mr Zelenskyy will present Mr Biden with a so-called victory plan as he hopes to bring about an end to the conflict.
Volodymr Zelenskyy with Donald Trump in 2020. Pic: Reuters
The Ukrainian president has said the plan will include long-range striking capabilities and other weapons long sought by Kyiv, and will serve as the basis for any future negotiation with Russia.
He is also expected to push Washington to lift restrictions on long-range missile strikes inside Russia.
Mr Zelenskyy will attend sessions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly and also plans to meet vice president Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate in this year’s US election, in separate meetings on 26 September.
The developments come as three sources have told Reuters that Iran did not include mobile launchers with the close-range ballistic missiles that Washington has accused Tehran of delivering to Russia for use against Ukraine.
The sources – a European diplomat, a European intelligence official and a US official – said it was not clear why Iran did not supply launchers with the Fath-360 missiles, raising questions about when and if the weapons will be operational.
At least 44 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Gaza in the last 24 hours.
A strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut killed at least 31 people including three children and seven women, the country’s health minister Firas Abiad said.
Fifteen of the 68 wounded in the attack remain in hospital.
Ali Harake, the head of the rescue team searching through the rubble, told Sky News his team is still looking for between 17 and 18 missing people – though he fears none have survived.
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‘I think the missing people are dead’
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It is understood two apartment blocks in a densely populated southern neighbourhood collapsed in the strike – the deadliest attack on Beirut in decades.
Top Hezbollah commanders are believed to have been meeting in the basement of one of the buildings.
Hezbollah has confirmed two of its senior commanders, Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi, died in the strike while an Israeli military spokesperson said that at least 16 Hezbollah militants were killed.
Wahbi oversaw the military operations of the Radwan special forces – a commando unit that seeks to infiltrate and carry out attacks in Israel – until early 2024. Aqil was also a top commander for the Iran-backed group.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas has described the killing of Aqil as a “crime” and a “folly”, adding Israel will “pay the price”.
Read more: Israeli airstrike on Beirut causes more shock to a country already rocked to its core
Meanwhile, at least 13 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City, according to a local report.
The strikes are believed to have hit several schools sheltering displaced people in the southern part of the city.
Inside a school, that was sheltering displaced people, after it was hit by an Israeli strike this morning. Pic: Reuters
The street outside the school. Pic: Reuters
The strikes come after Hezbollah launched one of its most intense bombardments of northern Israel in nearly a year of fighting, largely targeting Israeli military sites.
Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted most of the Katyusha rockets.
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Hezbollah said its latest wave of rocket attacks was a response to past Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.
It came days after mass explosions of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies killed at least 37 people, including two children. Some 2,900 others were wounded in the assault which has been widely attributed to Israel.
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