THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch election winner Geert Wilders tapped a former minister from the center-left Labor Party to investigate possible coalitions Tuesday, a day after the far-right leader’s first choice quit amid fraud allegations.
Ahead of a meeting that confirmed the appointment of Ronald Plasterk as “scout” to hold talks with political leaders about possible coalitions, Wilders also said on social media that his Party for Freedom, or PVV, known for its anti-Islam, anti-migration platform, “is for everyone.”
“The PVV is a broad popular party. The largest in the Netherlands. 2.4 million people voted for us,” Wilders wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He said his party represented people of all levels of education as well as “native” Dutch citizens and immigrants, “workers, retirees, young people and the elderly. From the city, the countryside. The PVV is for everyone.”
The president of the lower house of the Dutch parliament, Vera Bergkamp, confirmed that a large majority of party leaders had approved Plasterk as the new scout, saying he has “broad political support.”
Wilders called…
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