One to watch - 11/05/2009
Geert Wilders, The Netherlands
By Fiachra Gibbons/RFI
It is hard to ignore Geert Wilders, the blond bombshell pin-up of the new European right. Provocateur, showman and controversialist extraordinaire, the leader of Holland's Party For Freedom has shown himself such an astute reader of the public mood that he may yet become Dutch prime minister.
The inheritor of the anti-immigrant legacy of the murdered populist leader Pim Fortuyn, Wilders was banned from entering Britain earlier this year because his film about Islam in The Netherlands, Fitna, was seen as an incitement to hatred. Far from hurting him at home, the banning order has sent his popularity soaring. Latest polls show his Party For Freedom is now the most popular in The Netherlands, with a vote that could make him prime minister. Wilders hopes to cash in on this high at these elections with a platform that is anti-immigrant, anti-Turkey's entry into the EU and economically libertarian.
Other candidates to watch:
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