The far-right, Islamophobic party “Eleftheria” it seems that he is taking power in the Netherlands, as the exit polls show, causing shivers in Europe.

Dutch voters cast ballots in early parliamentary elections on Wednesday that were called after the collapse of the outgoing coalition government led by Mark Rutte.

Anti-Islamist party leader Wilders is poised for a big victory as far-right figures across Europe, from Hungary’s Viktor Orbán to France’s Marine Le Pen, rush to congratulate him.

Although there are no official results yet the “Dutch clone of Donald Trump” as he is usually characterized, with his unequivocally xenophobic and anti-Islamic rhetoric, he managed to turn the odds against him.

It is still unclear whether he will be able to win enough support to form a coalition as he has always been excluded from the government.

However, in his first statements he emphasized that “no party can ignore us anymore”.

In particular, the exit polls show the PVV winning 35 seats. The Green-Labor alliance, led by Frans Timmermans, gets 25 seats, while the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), led by Dylan Jesilgosz-Zegerius, gets 24 seats.

Wilders, pin his victory speech on Wednesday night he said that Dutch voters had spoken and chosen “an agenda of hope”.

A few hours before the vote, an excited Wilders told the BBC: “I think it’s the first time in the Netherlands that in one week we won 10 seats at the polls.”

Immigration has become a flag for Wilders who even said on Wednesday that he intends to deal with a “tsunami of asylum and immigration”.

It is noted that last year immigration to the Netherlands more than doubled as 220,000 people arrived in the country mainly due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Congratulations from far-right leaders

“The winds of change are here,” Viktor Orbán said in a post written in English on X (the former Twitter), adding: “Congratulations to Haert Wilders on his victory” in yesterday’s parliamentary elections.

The head of the French National Alarm party (extreme right) Marine Le Pen today “congratulated” Geert Wilders and his faction, the far-right Freedom Party (PVV), for their “spectacular performance” in the parliamentary elections held in the Netherlands yesterday Wednesday .

Congratulations to Geert Wilders and the PVV for their spectacular performance in the parliamentary elections, which confirms the growing commitment to the defense of national identities. Because people refuse to see the national torch extinguished, hope for change remains alive in Europe,” Ms Le Pen said via X (formerly Twitter).