Can the far-right Geert Wilders actually form a government after his shock Dutch election win?

The leader of the Party for Freedom – known for his extreme anti-Islam rhetoric – is in pole position to try and become prime minister in the Netherlands, writes Chris Stevenson

Geert Wilders celebrates in his party’s office (Getty)

For years Geert Wilders was in the political wilderness, his anti-Islam views – often expressed in the most inflammatory language – making him an outlier, even as his Party for Freedom (PVV) has consistently held seats in the Dutch parliament. Wilders himself has been in parliament since 1998, even before he founded PVV. An outcast entrenched in the establishment.

That founding came about as Wilders’ increasingly hardline views caused him to split from his previous political home, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), sitting as a one-man faction, Wilders Group, before forming the PVV in 2006. Over the next 17 years, Wilders’ fortunes would be defined by his statements on Islam. He has been banned – for part of 2009 – from entering the UK, he has a conviction for insulting Moroccans from 2016, and has faced countless death threats. This has led to almost two decades of requiring personal security that caused him to once suggest he could no longer imagine what it was like to walk down a street by himself.

The closest he had come to power before this week was in 2010. His party supported the first coalition formed by then-prime minister Mark Rutte in 2010. But Wilders did not formally join the minority administration and brought it down after just 18 months in office in a dispute over austerity measures.