Wilders votes in the Netherlands: The center-right party rules out its role in the government

The largest party in the previous Dutch government ruled out having a role in the next Dutch government, after the huge victory achieved by the anti-Islam populist candidate Geert Wilders in the elections.

In a blow to Wilders’ hopes of obtaining a majority, center-right leader Dylan Jesselgoz said her party needed a different role, after losing 10 seats.

Political leaders met to consider their next steps in forming a coalition.

A scout from Wilders’ Freedom Party will now evaluate who can participate.

The far-right Freedom Party won 37 seats in Tuesday’s election, far more than any other party, and more than double its representation in the 150-seat parliament.

The size of his victory put pressure on the center and center-right parties to help form a government led by Wilders.

The process of forming the Dutch coalition is taking several months, and the first step in the process began on Friday with the appointment of Freedom Party Senator Jom van Strien as an observer who will hold preliminary talks with all parties involved.

But as party leaders gathered for exploratory talks at Parliament House, Ms Jesseljoos, whose Party for Freedom and Democracy finished third in Wednesday’s vote, announced she would not take part in the next administration because Dutch voters had given a “clear signal”.

“The big winners in this election are the Freedom Party and the Freedom Party [new centrist party] “The National Security Council,” she told Dutch television. “But we will make the formation of a center-right government possible, so we will support that and not obstruct it.”

Without the Liberals, Wilders will struggle to obtain the 76 seats needed to form a majority. The only other major partners are the newly formed centrist New Social Contract party and the centre-right Citizen Farmers’ Movement.

However, Ms Yesilgoz stressed that her party would be ready to play a constructive role as a tacit partner in supporting a minority government in Parliament. The party’s 24 seats could actually give it a working majority.

Wilders said he was very disappointed with the party’s decision, which he complained was taken “without participating in the negotiations for a minute… and I think that’s not what the party’s voters want either.”

He complained that forming a government could now take months and that Ms Yeselgoz was not making it easier.

Commentators were quick to point out that Geert Wilders himself supported the first government led by Mark Rutte as a tacit partner in 2010, but caused its collapse just over a year and a half later when he refused to support austerity measures.

Wilders desperately needs the support of the New Social Contract Party, which was only formed in August by whistleblower MP Peter Omtzgt, and the BBB, which has strong representation in the Senate, the upper house.

With her decision not to join the government, Ms Yesilgoz also increased the pressure on Umtsigt to join the coalition, because with 20 seats it is the only other party still up for grabs among the top four parties.

Umtzigt said the timing of its announcement was strange and made the entire process more complicated.

BBB leader Caroline van der Plas complained that it was center-right liberals under former leader Mark Rutte who led to the government’s collapse in July in the first place, in a row over capping refugee numbers. She said it was now again about playing party politics, “not about what the citizens want.”

Its newly elected representatives were brought to the Parliament building by seven tractors, one for each representative.