(Politico) A sudden surge in support for far-right firebrand Geert Wilders has electrified the Dutch election as the campaign enters its final hours.
Wilders’ anti-Islam and anti-EU Freedom Party (PVV) has been buoyed by last-minute gains, with one poll even putting the PVV tied for first place with the conservative-liberal VVD party of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The late shift in the polls has thrown the Dutch race into dramatic flux. Voters cast ballots on Wednesday to choose all 150 members of parliament, with the results expected later that night.
Until the last few days, the contest had been a three-way affair since its July start, with Rutte’s incumbent VVD slugging it out with a Labour-Green alliance headed by EU heavyweight Frans Timmermans, and with the newly-formed center-right party of outsider Pieter Omtzigt.
