Liberal democratic party D66 has kicked off its local election campaign in The Hague with a warning that international organisations might leave the city if the anti-immigration PVV comes to power.

Two opinion polls have recently predicted Geert Wilders’ party could be the biggest in the city after the March 19 vote.

D66 campaign leader Ingrid van Engelshoven said she did not believe any more international organisations in the field of peace and justice would locate to The Hague if the PVV is in charge.

Jobs

‘That will not only hurt our reputation but will cost us millions of euros and thousands of jobs,’ she said.

In addition, established institutions may leave the city, she warned. ‘I can well imagine the PVV’s standpoints would conflict with international organisations’ ideals and they would consider leaving if made a good offer by another city.’

The Hague and Almere are the only cities where the PVV took part in the 2010 local elections. In The Hague the party won eight seats on the city council with 17% of the vote but was excluded from power-sharing.

Resignations

Since then, the local group has been hit by several resignations and now has five seats. Labour is the biggest party in The Hague, with 10 seats on the 45 seat council.

A TNS Nipo poll for the city council a month ago said PVV support was up marginally at 18% but that support for Labour was down from 21% to 17%.

Last weekend, a Maurice de Hond poll for D66 painted a similar picture. In that poll, just over half of the 600 people questioned said the PVV should not be part of the next administration.