Amsterdam, March 15 (QNA) – Dutch voters cast ballots Wednesday at polling booths across the nation in parliamentary elections following a campaign largely defined by questions of national identity and the rise of far-Right populism in Europe. .
Two-term Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s right-wing VVD party was leading in polls ahead of the Dutch vote, with the Party for Freedom of firebrand lawmaker Geert Wilders a close second.
Wilders voted amid tight security and unprecedented media attention at a school in a modern neighborhood on the edge of The Hague early in the day, RTL Nederland reported.
He expressed confidence that whatever the result of Wednesday’s election, the kind of populist politics he and others in Europe represent will be here to stay. “The genie will not go back into the bottle. People feel misrepresented,” he said, predicting this would show in elections later this year in France and Germany too. (QNA)
