Dutch far-right makes election breakthrough

The spectacular election breakthrough of the far-right anti-Muslim Party for Freedom shocked the Netherlands yesterday as two mainstream parties braced for weeks of coalition haggling.

The pro-business Liberal VVD party had 31 seats and the Labour party (PvdA) 30, with 99.6 per cent of the vote counted after Wednesday's election.

But far-right PVV leader Geert Wilders demanded a share of government after his party came third with 24 seats, more than doubling its current nine seats in the 150-member Parliament.

"Nobody in The Hague can bypass the PVV anymore," said Mr Wilders, whose party wants to end immigration from Muslim countries as well as a ban on new mosques and the Koran.

"We want to be part of the new government," declared Mr Wilders, a distinctive figure with a shock of dyed blonde hair who is under 24-hour protection because of his controversial political stand.

France's far-right National Front hailed the PVV's "great success". The PVV pushed the Christian Democratic Action party of outgoing Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende into fourth place, prompting him to resign as party leader and MP after eight years as Dutch premier.

Having been a part of nearly every Dutch government since World War II, the Christian Democrats lost 20 seats to end at 21. Mr Balkenende's last centre-left coalition collapsed in February over the country's Afghanistan military mission.

With economic concerns dominating the campaign, the Liberal party led by Mark Rutte campaigned with a promise to cut public spending by about €45 billion over the next four years.

Labour, led by former Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen, had promised more "careful" savings, the retention of social benefits and higher taxes for the rich. It lost two seats.

Mr Cohen has ruled out cooperation with the PVV. But the close outcome means Mr Wilders, who calls Islam a fascist religion and likens the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf, cannot be excluded from what observers have predicted to be long and complicated coalition talks.

The maverick Mr Wilders has led a campaign to "stop the Islamisation of the Netherlands."

Mr Wilders goes on trial in the Netherlands in October on charges of inciting racial hatred against Muslims. He was barred from entering Britain last year to stop him spreading "hatred"

Official election results are due next Tuesday.

The election was the first in a eurozone country since the Greek financial crisis erupted and was closely watched to see how the public reacted to Europe's wave of austerity. Voter turnout was 74 per cent, the lowest since 1998.

Mr Rutte has set a target date of July 1 to create a new government. "We do not exclude any party," he said ahead of the polls, asked about a possible coalition with the far right.