We should not forget an overwhelming majority of people did not vote for Geert Wilders in the Hague and Almere, writes Robin Pascoe.

The results of Wednesday’s local elections are pretty much as had been expected, with Geert Wilders’ PVV emerging as the big winner. But before we get too carried away about the Netherlands swing to the far right, perhaps we should put it all into a little perspective.
After all, it became very clear before the vote that Wilders has no intention of actually getting involved in local government. He has made a ban on headscarves a central part of any coalition negotiations, something which he knows no other party supports.
So he has already effectively ruled the PVV out of any active role in local government. Wilders can continue to go on about left-wing multiculti whatever from the sidelines and focus all his attention on the national elections in June.
At the same time, the PVV vote in both the Hague and Almere is not as strong as opinion polls had predicted which may also indicate his popularity has peaked.
Rotterdam is also an interesting case in point. Wilders urged his supporters to back Pim Fortuyn’s old party Leefbaar Rotterdam – but that call appeared to have no effect whatsover and support for Leefbaar is unchanged from 2006.
Of course it is hard translate the local results into a national poll – more people vote at a national level and everyone will have a chance to vote for the PVV. But the likelihood of Wilders emerging as the next prime minister is zero.
After all, in Almere and the Hague an overwhelming majority did not vote in favour of a party that wants to ban non-western immigration (whatever that is) and put ‘commandos’ in the streets. And that is reason enough for optimism.
Nevertheless, Wilders’ constant emphasis on ‘our culture’ and ‘our values’ is having an insidious effect. It is slowly chipping away at the acceptance of all foreigners in the Netherlands, where ever they come from.
And it is that hardening of attitudes which will be most damaging to the Netherlands in the long run.
Robin Pascoe is a journalist with DutchNews.nl