Farmers’ protest party win shock Dutch vote victory

A farmers’ party has stunned Dutch politics, and is set to be the biggest party in the upper house of parliament after provincial elections.

The Farmer-citizen movement (BBB) was only set up in 2019 in the wake of widespread farmers’ protests. But with most votes counted they are due to win 15 seats of the Senate’s seats with almost 20% of the vote. “This isn’t normal, but actually it is! It’s all normal citizens who voted,” said leader Caroline van der Plas.The BBB aims to fight government plans to slash nitrogen emissions harmful to biodiversity by dramatically reducing livestock numbers and buying out thousands of farms.

But its appeal has spread rapidly beyond its rural heartland, on a populist platform that represents traditional, conservative Dutch social and moral values. Shocked by the scale of their success, Ms van der Plas told supporters that voters normally stayed at home if they lost faith in politics: “But today people have shown they can’t stay at home any longer. We won’t be ignored any more.” A left-wing Green-Labour alliance is also on course to win 15 Senate seats, while Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s four-party coalition is poised to fall back to 24 – down eight seats. Turnout in Wednesday’s vote, estimated at 57.5%, was the highest for years and the biggest loser of the night was the far-right Forum for Democracy party.

For rural voters, the main incentive for backing the BBB was to protest against cuts in nitrogen emissions, according to an Ipsos poll for public broadcaster NOS. But voters also turned out in force for the Greens, and environmental groups warned that the Netherlands’ problems were not going away. “Restoring nature is just as necessary today and tomorrow as it was yesterday,” tweeted Natuurmonumenten. The run-up to the vote was dominated by the sight of farmers’ tractors on the streets of The Hague and outside the venue that hosted a pre-vote leaders’ debate.

Commentator Ben Coates described the result as “something of an earthquake in Dutch politics”.Although their policies are very much focused on opposing the government’s environmental policies, he told the BBC most people would characterise them as a right-wing, populist party that was quite anti-EU, anti-immigration and in favour of banning burkas for Muslims. Standing before supporters on Wednesday night, Caroline van der Plas wore her trademark green nail polish and a ring featuring an upside-down Dutch flag, a symbol of the anti-government protests.

The daughter of an Irish mother and a Dutch father, she lost her husband Jan to pancreatic cancer as the protests took off in 2019. She is unlike any Dutch party leader – and for many voters, that is her appeal. She had to step back from public campaigning last year because of death threats. She was told the same fate awaited her as Pim Fortuyn, a populist leader assassinated days before the 2002 Dutch general election. Speaking to the BBC during a visit to farmers in the rural east, she sprung to her feet in mid-sentence to avoid a bee, explaining she had been stung as a toddler and had been terrified ever since.

About the Author: Patriotman

Patriotman currently ekes out a survivalist lifestyle in a suburban northeastern state as best as he can. He has varied experience in political science, public policy, biological sciences, and higher education. Proudly Catholic and an Eagle Scout, he has no military experience and thus offers a relatable perspective for the average suburban prepper who is preparing for troubled times on the horizon with less than ideal teams and in less than ideal locations. Brushbeater Store Page: http://bit.ly/BrushbeaterStore

3 Comments

Chris March 16, 2023 at 12:30

I guess the US Is gonna send “Voting Monitors”…(ie Voting Fraud Techs) now.
Those pesky peasents actually made some gains…and are daring to fight back.
Greer March 16, 2023 at 13:16

An opposing view to this comes from Michael Yon and Eva Vlaardingerbroek on the ground in the Netherlands. They have been reporting that the BBBeter Party is a globalist front acting as a shell party, or “Pied Piper” to lure farmer’s away from the FVD party (Forum vor Democracy).

https://michaelyon.locals.com/post/3683545/dutch-selections-bbbeter-shell-party

https://michaelyon.locals.com/post/3684566/netherlands-catastrophic-selection

The same way the GOP portrays themselves as Americans/Christians/Constitutionalist.

At their core they are AINOs, Americans In Name Only.

Remember it’s two wings on the same bird:
Democrats love power, Republicans love money.
Democrats use money to obtain power, Republicans use power to obtain money.
Destroy Evil March 16, 2023 at 14:25

You can’t lose with Eva V!
Dutch people like to have food and nice things so F’ off internationalist parasites.
So glad that they put everything down in writing and broadcast their kick the farmers out to reduce the food supply and build housing for the new “voters” who will always vote properly or lose the state benefits plans.
Netherlands is extremely important due to their food exporting and the world famine is a must have for the forces of evil.