THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Dutch voters, after rejecting a draft constitution for Europe four years ago, delivered a solid bloc for anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders to take to Europe’s parliament, exit polls showed Thursday. Underscoring skepticism over further European integration, Wilders’ right-wing Freedom Party appeared set to win four out of 25 contested seats in elections for the European Parliament being held over the next four days.
If this holds, that would mean that Wilders’s party (on around 15 percent of the vote) will be the second largest in the Netherlands, although these numbers may, of course, be badly distorted by low turn-out and the use that EU voters make of these pan-EU elections to “send a message.” Interesting nonetheless. So far as I am aware, Wilders remains banned from Britain — on the instructions of the Labour Home Secretary (who is resigning in disgrace thanks to a scandal or two and general uselessness). Last laugh and all that.






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