Five branches of the anti-immigration party PVV have removed a ban on headscarves for civil servants from their manifestos for the March elections for new provincial councils.

Flevoland, Zeeland, Noord-Brabant, Zuid-Holland and Noord-Holland have all removed the ban, Trouw reports on Thursday. The paper says this has been done to make it easier for the PVV to join coalitions after the March 18 vote.

Zeeland campaign chief Peter van Dijk, who is also a member of the upper house of parliament, told Trouw: ‘If you want to govern you should not include items which will encounter a lot of resistance.’

The headscarf ban proved an obstacle to the PVV joining coalitions in Almere and The Hague after the 2010 local elections. The party lost support in both towns last year.

Party leader Geert Wilders hit the headlines years ago by calling for a tax to be introduced on what he called ‘head rags’. Local parties are free to draw up their own manifestos, he said in response to Trouw’s research. ‘Our anti-Islam standpoint remains the same,’ Wilders said.