What the Dutch election results mean for European politics

Voters roundly rejected the populist politics of Geert Wilders in the Dutch general election. Matthew Partridge looks at what it means for both the Netherlands and for Europe.

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Mark Rutte (right) won the Dutch election easily, leavingGeert Wilders (left) a distant second
(Image credit: © 2017 Bloomberg Finance LP)

Last Wednesday, Dutch voters voted in their general election. Polls immediately before the election had suggested that the PVV, run by the far-right Geert Wilders, was neck-and-neck with the current prime minister, Mark Rutte, and his party the VVD. Wilders had demanded major reductions in immigration from both inside and outside the EU, and had praised Brexit.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri