EXPATICA: Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) has scuppered its chances of governing in the city of Almere through its insistence on a head scarf ban, a crown-appointed official said Friday.
No other party in Almere would accept a blanket ban on Islamic head scarves in municipal buildings, making it impossible to form a ruling coalition, said Boele Staal, a politician appointed by Queen Beatrix to investigate options for coalition government in the city where the PVV won March 3 municipal elections.
"The PVV wants a head scarf ban regardless of any (legal) test," said Boele's letter to the city council of Almere, nearly a third of whose 190,000 residents are of immigrant origin.
"With this position, the PVV has denied itself any possibility to be part of the municipal executive." >>> | Friday, March 26, 2010
