Netherlands: Right-wing parties sensationally win student elections

Election earthquake in the Netherlands: Students are allowed to vote before the parliamentary election and cause a sensation. The right-wing parties are winning – but a migrant party is also surprisingly strong.

The Hague - The right-wing parties clearly won the student elections in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders' Islam-critical PVV received 15.9 percent of the vote. The right-wing Forum for Democracy (FvD) followed in second place with 13.3 percent. Together, the parties would have 46 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. More than 140,000 students from 397 schools took part in the student election.

The conservative-liberal VVD, which has been prime minister since 2010, received 10.8 percent of the vote. During the 2021 student election, the VVD became the strongest force with 20.1 percent. The VVD is followed by the electoral alliance of the Greens and Social Democrats (GroenLinks - PvdA) and the left-liberal party D66, each with 10 percent. The new NSC party led by government critic Pieter Omtzigt only received 2.7 percent. The Farmers' Party accounted for 7 percent.

Migrant party DENK is the strongest force in Rotterdam
Seven percent of Dutch students chose DENK. The party is primarily aimed at migrants from the Muslim world. It is said to be close to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. In Rotterdam , the second largest city in the Netherlands, DENK became the strongest force with 18.48 percent. The FvD followed in second place with twelve percent.

A new parliament, the Tweede Kamer, will be elected in the Netherlands on Wednesday. In surveys, the Islam-critical PVV, the conservative-liberal VVD and the alliance of the Greens and Social Democrats are fighting for first place. The three parties are all at around 26 percent. The Forum for Democracy, which received 13.3 percent in the student elections, is only around four percent in surveys.

Source: Junge Freiheit