PVV reaches all time high in De Hond opinion poll
Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam PVV would win a record 41 seats in parliament if there were a general election tomorrow, according to a new online poll by Maurice de Hond.
The poll, in the wake of the New Year attacks in Cologne, gives Wilders almost 29% of the vote and a long lead over the Christian Democrats on 19 seats and right-wing Liberal VVD on 18.
The poll also shows that almost 25% of voters consider the refugee crisis will be crucial in the next general election, which is likely to take place in March 2017.
New arrivals
On Friday, the justice ministry said a record 59,100 people had requested asylum in 2015. The previous record of 52,575 dates from 1994 at the time of the Yugoslavian civil war.
Of the 2015 total, 1,940 requests were second or third applications and 14,070 were made by family members following people already settled here, the ministry said.
Both Wilders and Rutte on Sunday ruled out working with each other to form a coalition after the next election.
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