THE TELEGRAPH: Geert Wilders, the radical anti-Muslim Dutch politician, was celebrating a symbolic breakthrough on Thursday as his party won control of its first municipality in a show of strength ahead of June's general election.
Mr Wilders's far-Right Party for Freedom (PVV) made a strong showing in local polls held Wednesday, while the traditionally strong Christian Democratic (CDA) and Labour (PvdA) parties lost support, early results showed.
The PVV came first and second in the only two of 394 municipalities it contested.
It was the strongest party with 21.6 per cent of the vote in Almere, a city of 187,000 people near the capital Amsterdam previously won by the PvdA, and came second in the seat of government, The Hague - the Netherlands' third largest city with 442,000 residents.
"What is possible in The Hague and Almere is possible all over the country," said Mr Wilders, who is awaiting a hate speech trial for calling Islam a fascist religion and likening the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf. >>> | Thursday, March 04, 2010
