Wilders Faces Historic Setback As Seven Lawmakers Quit PVV In Major Party Split

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (Worthy News) – Dutch firebrand politician Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV), faced his most severe political crisis Tuesday after seven members of parliament resigned from the party’s parliamentary group, dramatically weakening its influence in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands.

The departure marks the largest rupture in the PVV’s history and comes after disappointing election results last autumn left the party’s support waning amid broader dissatisfaction with Wilders’s leadership style. Tuesday’s defections reduced the PVV’s parliamentary faction from 26 seats to 19, removing its status as the leading opposition bloc and shifting the balance of power in The Hague.

The seven lawmakers who left the PVV announced plans to form a new parliamentary group under veteran legislator Gidi Markuszower, asserting that Wilders’s confrontational style and resistance to internal debate have hampered the party’s effectiveness. There was a brief stormy party meeting at a moment when critics said a party should be more “than one man with a Twitter account,” referring to Wilders’ extensive use of social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

In a joint statement, the defectors criticized the party’s structure—under which Wilders is the only formal member—and said the PVV had failed to achieve concrete results for its voters, calling for deeper dialogue with other parties and a broader political profile.

WILDERS CALLS IT A ‘BLACK DAY’

The new formation, known informally as the Markuszower Group, signaled its intent to work constructively with other factions in the Dutch parliament, including the emerging minority government coalition led by centrist, left-leaning, Democrats 66 (D66) and allied parties.

Wilders, who has faced numerous death threats from radical Muslims for his hard-line stances on immigration and Islam, described the split as a “black day” for the PVV. However Wilders insisted his pro-Israel party would continue to press its agenda from opposition benches.

Political analysts say the defections underscore fundamental tensions within the PVV, which has historically operated more as Wilders’s personal vehicle than as a collective party.

With no formal membership base beyond its 62-year-old leader, the party has faced criticism for limited internal democracy and resistance to strategic change.
The loss of PVV deputies hands a relative advantage to coalition-building efforts of D66 and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which seek to form a stable governing majority.

BROADER POLITICAL REALIGNMENTS SEEN

The shift also reflects broader political realignments in the Netherlands after last year’s national elections, in which Wilders’s PVV lost seats and saw its share of support erode compared with earlier cycles.

However PVV concerns about massive migration from mainly Islamic nations have spread to other rightwing parties, who together form an important bloc in parliament.

Some of the departing lawmakers have already taken steps toward establishing a broader political project, including registering domain names for a potential new party, suggesting this split could have lasting impact on the Dutch political landscape.

As the PVV contends with its deepest internal crisis since its founding in 2006, commentators wonder whether Wilders’s personal brand can sustain the movement in the long term. Wilders troubles is closely followed by political allies across Europe, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with whom he has close relations.

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