The Dutch elections were a victory for liberal centrists and a defeat for the anti-immigration Geert Wilders. Yet with the overall right-wing vote stronger than ever, there’s little reason for celebration.

Read most liberal papers’ coverage of the October 29 elections in the Netherlands and you find this sort of headline: “Far Right Beaten, Dutch Good Sense Restored.” After two bruising years in office following an unprecedented electoral victory for Geert Wilders’s far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) in 2023, the experiment of a PVV-led government collapsed. This time, neat technocrats from the liberal-democratic Democrats 66 (D66) look set to steer a pro-EU cabinet. It sounds like a return to steady hands.

But on closer inspection, that is hardly the whole tale — especially for anyone on

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