Parliamentary elections will be held in the Netherlands on 29 October following the collapse of the government this week, acting interior minister Judith Uijtermark said.
“I will soon be working with municipalities and other stakeholders on preparations to ensure that this important day for our democracy goes smoothly,” she wrote on social media x.
On 3 June in the Netherlands, the far-right Freedom Party (PVV), led by Geert Wilders, announced it was leaving the power coalition, putting the current government in jeopardy.
Wilders’ decision was a reaction to the refusal of coalition partners to support his proposals for tougher migration policies, including a complete halt to asylum applications.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof has since announced his resignation.
The government formed in July 2024 was initially unstable. New elections are likely to be called in the coming months. Political uncertainty is heightened at a time when the Netherlands is expected to make a key decision to increase defence spending as part of new NATO targets. The country also risks being left with an Interim Government ahead of an important NATO summit in The Hague at the end of June.
Wilders has insisted on a complete closure of refugee reception, the return of Syrian migrants to their country and the dismantling of migrant reception centres. Coalition partners rejected his demands, saying that the relevant initiatives should be developed by the Minister of Migration, a representative of the PVV itself. Wilders is not part of the government and had previously dropped his claim to be prime minister to ensure a coalition with the other three parties.
Wilders’ Freedom Party, considered by many to be Radical in the Netherlands because of his strident anti-migrant statements, won a landslide victory in the November 2023 elections, but it and its right-wing allies did not have enough votes in parliament to form a government. Therefore, Wilders’ supporters began negotiations with centre-right pro-European political forces.