Who are they?
PVV stands for Partij voor de Vrijheid — Party for Freedom. It is, effectively, Geert Wilders and his staff. That's not a joke: the party has exactly one member. Wilders owns the party foundation, so there's no internal democracy, no party congress, no risk of being challenged from within. It's a one-man political movement with parliamentary representation.
In the 2023 elections, PVV came first. Wilders became the largest party leader in the Netherlands. He then spent months in Formatie before finally getting a cabinet that would work with him.
What they stand for
- Ending what Wilders calls the "Islamisation" of the Netherlands — banning the Quran, closing mosques, stopping Muslim immigration
- Leaving the EU, or at least radically reforming it (he's backed off "Nexit" somewhat)
- Populist economics: protecting pensions, opposing austerity for ordinary people
- Strong anti-establishment messaging — against the "elite," the media, the mainstream parties
It's a mix of far-right cultural politics and left-leaning economic populism on certain issues. That combination is why he catches votes from people you wouldn't expect.
Leadership
Geert Wilders, always. See Geert Wilders.
Their usual voters
People in smaller cities and rural areas who feel left behind. Working-class voters who used to vote Labour (PvdA) and feel the left abandoned them. People who've had bad experiences with crime or housing and want someone to blame loudly. Some genuine ideologues who share his views on Islam.
Recent moves
- November 2023: PVV wins the election with 37 seats — the largest party. Most observers were genuinely surprised.
- 2024: After months of Formatie drama, a cabinet is formed. Wilders doesn't become prime minister himself — he installs Dick Schoof (a former intelligence chief with no party affiliation) as PM while PVV holds key ministries.
- 2025: The Schoof cabinet faces repeated crises. Several ministers struggle with competence questions. Wilders continues to govern through social media as much as through parliament.
- 2026-05-16: A "National Protest" against asylum policy organised partly by PVV sympathisers drew far smaller crowds than expected — at most a few hundred per city. Counter-demonstrators outnumbered protesters in Nijmegen, Leeuwarden, and Groningen. Someone was arrested in Leeuwarden for giving the Hitler salute; the Nazi-era NSB flag appeared in The Hague. Separately, anti-asylum protests elsewhere turned violent — arson in Loosdrecht, arrests in Apeldoorn. The far-right street movement is energetic but fringe.
These guides are written to help you understand the Netherlands — not to replace professional advice. We do our best to be accurate but we make mistakes and information goes out of date. For anything that affects your legal status, taxes, finances, or health, verify with an official source or a qualified advisor.