March 16, 2017
GEERT WHO?:
Dutch PM Rutte sees off anti-Islam Wilders challenge (Al Jazeera, 3/16/17)
Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, has easily defeated his far-right rival Geert Wilders, partial vote counts show, in elections seen as a measure of populist support in Europe.With more than 93 percent of votes counted, Rutte's liberal VVD party was set to win 33 seats, making it the largest in the new 150-seat parliament, with Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV) beaten into second place with 20 seats, the Dutch national broadcaster NOS said on Thursday. [...]Wilders had pledged to close the borders to Muslim immigrants, shut mosques, ban sales of the Quran and leave the EU if he won the polls.
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 16, 2017 5:59 AM