EU Elections Kick off in the Netherlands

Facts

• The European Union's four-day parliamentary elections kicked off Thursday in the Netherlands, where exit polls show Prime Minister Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) making strong gains.¹
• Wilders' party won last year's national election, riding a wave of populism and nationalism growing in Europe. However, he failed to win a seat in the previous EU elections in 2019.²
• Though it later gained a seat in the European parliament, exit polls now show the PVV winning seven seats, just one seat behind the center-left coalition of the Green/Labour parties.³
• The Netherlands will hold 31 of 720 seats in the next European Parliament. The election results will be released Sunday evening after 370M Europeans across 27 EU countries cast their ballots.⁴
• The centrist European People's Party (EPP), led by European Commission Pres. Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to hold the most seats in the parliament, followed by the center-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the liberals of Renew.⁵
• Ireland and the Czech Republic will continue voting on Friday, while all other member states will vote over the weekend.⁶

Sources: ¹Guardian (a), ²Reuters, ³Yahoo News, ⁴RFI, ⁵Guardian (b) and ⁶Dw.Com.

Narratives

• Right narrative, as provided by Europeanconservative. The European Parliament elections come at a critical moment for Europeans who are dissatisfied with the EU's open-border policies. While counterintuitive, Eurosceptics and nationalists must vote in the elections to ensure that the 27-member bloc is filled with members who respect national sovereignty. The European right is making a major comeback at the national level, and that momentum must be carried into the elections.
• Left narrative, as provided by Guardian. The European far-right appears to be making electoral gains but is unlikely to become an influential player in European politics. The right-wing continues to be divided on many fronts, and those divisions will derail any advancement of far-right ideology. However, it's still important for liberals to vote in the elections and maintain a more mainstream coalition. The biggest fear is that the far-right infiltrates more mainstream parties on the center-right.

Predictions