Wilders to resume street campaign

Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders will resume his election campaign after a security scare prompted him to cancel all public events.

Dutch Anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders

Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders will resume his election campaign after a security scare. (AAP)

The Dutch Party for Freedom will resume its street campaign after revelations of leaks from the police team guarding its leader Geert Wilders prompted the anti-Islam party to cancel all public events ahead of a parliamentary election.

Wilders has lived under 24-hour police protection since an Islamist militant's 2006 murder of fellow Islam critic Theo van Gogh. He cancelled all public appearances ahead of the March 15 election after it emerged that a member of the protection squad had leaked information to Moroccan criminal gangs.

"Voters want to see us," he said in a statement on Wednesday. "The security risks will be kept to a minimum."

With just two weeks to go until the election Wilders' party has lost its top position in opinion polls for the first time this year.

According to a weekly survey released on Wednesday that draws on six key polls, the PVV has been overtaken by Prime Minister Mark Rutte's conservative liberal VVD, which is now polling at 16.3 per cent.

Wilders' party is not far behind at 15.7 per cent.

Even if the PVV wins the March 15 elections, it is unlikely that the party will be able to form a coalition government, since almost all other parties have ruled out a deal with them.

The PVV, which wants the Netherlands to leave the European Union and reimpose border controls, has been steadily losing support since the start of the year.


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2 min read
Published 2 March 2017 9:52am
Source: AAP

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