7 lawmakers quit Geert Wilders' far-right party in stunning setback for Dutch anti-Islam firebrand

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Seven lawmakers quit Geert Wilders' far-right political party on Tuesday in a stunning setback for the Dutch anti-Islam firebrand who narrowly missed out on winning last year's national elections.

Wilders, sometimes known as the Dutch Donald Trump, is the longest-serving lawmaker in the lower house of the Dutch parliament and an ally of like-minded European politicians such as Italy's Giorgia Meloni, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the leader of France's National Rally leader Marine Le Pen.

He called the defections a “black day for the PVV,” using the Dutch acronym for his Party for Freedom.

Wilders has for years been a fierce critic of Islam and was convicted of insulting Moroccans at an election-night rally in 2014. A typically strident Wilders condemned that ruling as a “political trial” that “dumped freedom of speech in the garbage.” He has lived under round-the-clock protection for more than two decades years due to repeated death threats.

Wilders' party won 26 seats in the October election, the same number as the centrist D66, which received a slightly larger share of the popular vote and is now leading negotiations to form a three-party minority ruling coalition government. The defections mean that Wilders’ PVV is no longer the largest opposition party in the 150-seat house of representatives.

It was a significant decline for the PVV, which swept to a shock landslide victory with 37 seats in the previous general election in 2023.

Wilders told reporters in parliament that the departing lawmakers were not happy with his plan to pursue a policy of “hard opposition” to the new government once it is finalized.

Other parties in the splintered Dutch legislature have pledged to work constructively with a minority administration that looks likely to be formed by D66, the Christian Democrats and right-wing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy.

In a statement on X, Wilders said: “A black day for the #PVV But we always keep going. For the Netherlands. And the sun will shine again.”

The seven departing lawmakers plan to set up their own bloc in parliament, led by veteran PVV lawmaker Gidi Markuszower.

National broadcaster NOS cited Markuszower as saying that the lawmakers “tried to start a discussion” within the party following the last election, “but it wasn't possible.”