© EPA/Remko de Waal Seven legislators departed the organization.
Dutch extreme-right figure Geert Wilders has endured an extraordinary setback after seven parliament members openly opposed his exclusive command of the organization, Politico reports.
A cohort of seven lawmakers — incorporating a past campaign director and intimate colleague of Wilders — will no longer embody the Freedom Party (PVV) within the Dutch assembly and will establish their own parliamentary faction.
“This is a dismal occasion for the PVV,” Wilders posted on the social platform X, pledging to persevere in the battle.
The considerable departure left the PVV with 19 mandates, forfeiting its rank as the nation’s foremost opposition group.
Per Dutch press accounts, strains culminated on Tuesday when seven PVV MPs endorsed a communication assailing Wilders and urging an immediate ballot.
Inside the communication, the signatories advocated for a reconsideration of the parliamentary voting outcomes in October 2025 and sought amplified internal-party democracy, encompassing the opening of the PVV to fresh participants.
The PVV distinguishes itself in Dutch and European politics by possessing merely a solitary formal participant — Wilders himself, recognized for his rigid leadership approach.
“The PVV is more than simply an individual possessing a Twitter profile,” the dissenting communication asserts. “The sustainability of the parliamentary unit and the concerns of the electorate ought not to hinge on the resolutions of a unique PVV participant.”
In the past, individuals had abandoned the group due to a deficiency in internal democracy, but never seven simultaneously.
“We endeavored to initiate discourse, but it proved unattainable,” one of them, Gidi Markusover, conveyed to reporters.
Addressing the circumstance to Politico, PVV MEP Sebastian Krejs termed the exit of the seven lawmakers “regrettable” yet diminished its importance.
“There are invariably peaks and valleys in politics. The brightest periods for the PVV are still impending,” he articulated.
In 2023, the entity of Dutch anti-European far-right populist Geert Wilders, who vowed to cease immigration to the Netherlands, secured 37 out of 150 parliamentary positions: greater than twofold the outcome it attained in the 2021 polls. Nonetheless, Wilders himself relinquished attempting to ascend to prime minister.
Following months of dialogues to forge a governing alignment, non-aligned former intelligence head Dick Schoof was designated chief of the government.
In 2025, Wilders’ entity deserted the alignment as a consequence of a heated contention concerning migration policy, notably concerning the government’s stance on refuge. The alignment subsequently disintegrated.