Nationalists’ First Crack at the EU Establishment Looks Like a Bust
- Dutch Labor party poised to win ballot, beating populists
- Geert Wilders’s Freedom Party to lose three of four seats
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In Europe’s battle between resurgent populism and the establishment, moderate, pro-EU parties are poised to win the first round decisively.
Two mainstream Dutch parties are expected to take the top positions in Thursday’s election, with Labor, which staunchly supports the 28-nation bloc, poised to finish first with 18% of the vote, edging out Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals, which garnered 15%, according to an exit poll conducted by Ipsos. The anti-EU Forum for Democracy, which will enter Parliament for the first time, finished fourth with 11%, while Geert Wilders’s anti-Islam Party only picked up 4%.