Anti-immigration populist surge in wake of deadly Utrecht shooting stuns Dutch politics

The Forum for Democracy came from nowhere to become the joint biggest party in the country’s senate

Provincial elections took place just days after a suspected terrorist attack in the city of Utrecht that left three people dead

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Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose People's Party for Freedom and Democracy lost its majority in the elections. Photo: EPA

Published: 6:34pm, 21 Mar 2019Updated: 6:34pm, 21 Mar 2019

Dutch anti-immigration populists stunned Prime Minister Mark Rutte to become the joint biggest party in the senate on Thursday following elections that took place just days after a suspected terror attack.

Thierry Baudet’s Forum for Democracy party, which also backs a “Nexit” from the European Union, came from nowhere to win most votes in the provincial elections, with 93 per cent of ballots counted, the broadcaster NOS said.

Thierry Baudet, of the Forum for Democracy party. Photo: AFP

The result will ring alarm bells across Europe where populists are expected to make big gains in European Parliament elections in May.

Self-proclaimed intellectual Baudet, 36, who has a history of controversial comments about women and immigration and backs closer relations with Russia, accused Rutte of “arrogance and stupidity” and of ignoring voters.

“We stand here in the rubble of what was once the most beautiful civilisation,” he told a cheering crowd at a victory celebration late on Wednesday in a speech laced with classical references.