Muslim communities on Thursday expressed deep shock on the election victory of far-right populist Geert Wilders, who has beforehand advocated for the prohibition of mosques and the Quran, Islam’s holy e-book, within the Netherlands.
Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV) beat all predictions on Wednesday night time by profitable 37 seats out of 150 within the Dutch parliament, nicely forward of a Labour/Green mixture and the outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservatives.
The result’s sending shockwaves by Europe, the place extremist nationalist ideology is placing stress on democracies that now face the opportunity of having to cope with the primary far-right prime minister of the Netherlands.
“These election results are shocking for Dutch Muslims. We did not expect such a party with a program that is against the basic principles of the rule of law to be so big,” mentioned Muhsin Köktaş of the Muslim group CMO.
Muslims make up round 5% of the Dutch inhabitants of just about 18 million folks.
“It was a blow I have to process,” Abessamad Taheri, a 45-year-old group employee within the multi-ethnic Schilderswijk neighborhood in The Hague informed Reuters.
Mehdi Koç, a 41-year-old insulation installer, mentioned he was shocked by the swing to the PVV, whereas Taheri mentioned the vote despatched completely different messages to Muslims, though the overwhelming emotion was disappointment.
“In part the message is that many people are xenophobic and don’t want foreigners or Muslims. But another message is that people are very disappointed in 13 years of Rutte,” he mentioned.
However, Taheri, a member of the Labour social gathering, mentioned he may probably not separate that from all of the “nasty things” Wilders had mentioned about banning headscarves and shutting mosques.
After his shock win, Wilders mentioned he needed to be prime minister for all Dutch folks, however that appeared to do little to assuage considerations about what he may do later.
“If you say yes to Wilders now, then you will have to say yes later when he closes down all the mosques because then you cannot go back,” Koç mentioned, warning that Wilders won’t lose sight of his eventual objectives.
Some within the Netherlands assume that the Dutch system of coalition authorities means Wilders should compromise on his most radical views, as political analysts additionally predict.
“He will not make the laws alone (other parties) will join and they have to cooperate,” Kemal Yıldız, 54, mentioned.
“It will be fine,” Yıldız added.
Source: www.dailysabah.com