The Netherlands is drifting toward a minority government of pro-European Union, centrist and centre-left parties comprising the D66, VVD and CDA, despite a majority of voters having voted for right-of-centre parties in the last election.
Dutch voters on the Right are staring in disbelief at a political reality that renders their majority vote effectively meaningless — and wondering why their supposed champion is campaigning abroad instead of fighting in the Netherlands.
Geert Wilders, leader of the populist right-wing PVV party, which won the 2024 election to become the country’s largest party but then abruptly walked away in June, 2025, spent the weekend of January 10-11 not in the Hague but on US stages.
Wilders appeared at events in Dallas and Los Angeles, where he once again warned audiences about what he calls the dangers of radical Islam.
“Sold-out crowd,” Wilders proudly tweeted from across the Atlantic.
“Wrong stage for you, mate,” Dutch citizen Vince Vommen commented on social media about Wilders’ US tour. “We need you here.”
Caroline van der Plas, leader of the farmers’ party BBB, was equally blunt now that the Netherlands seems irreversibly heading toward a minority cabinet.
“A minority cabinet that ignores the clear centre-right mandate of the electorate and governs without majority voter support is a disastrous way to start,” she said.
Joost Eerdmans of the JA21 party, who was shut out at the very last minute and denied any role in government, called it regrettable but told Algemeen Dagblad newspaper that he did not want to enter a finger-pointing contest.
He did note, though, that the coalition would not honour the will of the voters: “The right-wing vote is being ignored. D66, CDA, and VVD do not hold a majority. This could quickly make it very tense for a new government. It’s going to be a bumpy ride,” Eerdmans said.
TV commentator Victor Vlam argued on national television that the emerging coalition of D66, CDA and VVD amounts to a direct insult to a large segment of the electorate.
According to him, voters to the right of the VVD are being systematically ignored despite their substantial parliamentary presence.
“This is basically a middle finger to the voter, because there are 49 seats in parliament to the right of the VVD. Those voters are not being represented at all. This is a very large group of Dutch citizens,” he said.
Vlam predicts that the anticipated minority cabinet will not pursue a pragmatic or centrist agenda but will instead drift sharply leftward with the backing of the GroenLinks/PvdA alliance, the party formerly led by Frans Timmermans.
“This so-called centre cabinet will mean that nothing truly substantial will be done about immigration. It means enormous amounts of money will be spent on climate measures and further EU integration.
“This is not what many voters want. I think it is going to be a massive disappointment.”
He further suggests that voters were misled during the campaign, singling out D66 leader Rob Jetten.
After the elections, D66 emerged as the largest party with 26 seats, while the PVV also secured 26 seats. VVD won 22 seats, GroenLinks PvdA 20 seats, CDA 18 seats, JA21 nine seats, Forum for Democracy seven seats, and BBB four seats.
“The problem with Rob Jetten is that during the election campaign he presented himself as someone open to right-wing plans. Now he has actively prevented JA21 from participating in government. I think what we saw during the election campaign was not the real Rob Jetten,” said Vlam.
Discontent with D66 among right-wing voters runs deeper than policy disagreements. Many do not merely feel the party is incompatible with their views but express outright derision. In some circles, D66 is mockingly referred to as “666”.
Critics frequently cite a widely discussed debate in which Jetten — at the time minister for climate and energy — claimed that the billions the Netherlands is spending on climate initiatives would, according to his own calculations at the time, reduce global temperatures by only 0.000036 degrees Celsius — a figure derived from the projected global impact of national emissions reductions.
Public anger was further inflamed when the then-state secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (D66) signed in 2023 a European agreement on a Digital Identity on behalf of the Netherlands. That was despite explicit opposition from a parliamentary majority — a move critics describe as emblematic of a governing style increasingly detached from voter consent.
Van Huffelen argued that this was necessary to maintain influence in further negotiations, but critics called it a violation of parliamentary oversight and democratic transparency.
Meanwhile, Wilders was busy advising the US. “Why don’t you denaturalise all these Somali fraudsters and send them packing out of your country,” he said at the weekend, referring to the US scandal involving Somali committing childcare subsidy fraud.
He also reacted to the plans for a minority cabinet in the Netherlands and predicted it was doomed to fail.
“New elections next year,” he forecast.
