PVV leader Geert Wilders has called for the Dutch constitution to be changed to ban people with more than one passport from voting or standing for office.

Wilders’s demand was aimed squarely at the minority rights party Denk, which has clashed repeatedly with the anti-Islam PVV in parliament since its three members were elected two years ago.

‘They are sitting here because they are Dutch, but it is crystal clear to everybody that they mainly represent Turkish interests. They are the biggest defenders of Erdogan’s regime in the Netherlands,’ he told MPs as he submitted a bill to strip dual nationals of voting rights.

However, the PVV is unlikely to get its way, as amending the constitution is a complex procedure involving two votes in both houses of parliament, either side of a general election. The second vote must be passed by a two-thirds majority.

Wilders said his bill applied equally to everyone with a second nationality, but freely admitted it was driven by partisan motives. ‘If we could remove all members of Denk from the lower house, every local council and provincial assembly, where they have dual nationality, that would be a tremendous result for this law,’ he said.

Denk leader Tunahan Kuzu retorted by claiming that Wilders had spent more time in recent months at the Israeli embassy than in the Dutch parliament. ‘What counts is the behaviour that people exhibit,’ he said.

‘We’ve seen he’s been unable to silence us in parliament, so now he’s trying to do it via the constitution and that won’t succeed either,’ Kuzu added.