24 Seats in Parliament for Party For Freedom

From Eric Dondero:

We'll have full details tomorrow. But the news out of the Netherlands is about as good as it gets for Right Libertarians.

Both parties favored by Libertarian Republican Geert Wilders Party of Freedom, and Mark Rutte's pro-business People's Party (VVD) did exceptionally well. In fact, it appears that Rutte may be able to assemble a coalition on the Right to lead the Government.

From the AP:

AMSTERDAM — An anti-Islam party notched large gains in Dutch elections on Wednesday, but a contest between the two largest parties on the right and left remained too close to call.

With 91 percent of votes counted, the pro-business VVD party led Labor by 31 seats to 30 in the 150-seat parliament, a result that spelled weeks and possibly months of haggling to fashion a ruling coalition among parties deeply split on immigration and how to curb government spending.

The anti-Islam Freedom Party of Geert Wilders scored its best-ever finish with 24 seats.

Although not as outspoken against immigration as Wilders, Rutte has also argued that immigrants who cannot contribute to the Dutch economy should not be allowed to come, and he would ban them from receiving welfare for 10 years after arrival.

Editor's Note - Cliff Thies will have a full election analysis tomorrow here at LR.