No executive committee, no organizational structure, never any internal votes and no members – except for one, Geert Wilders himself. Since 2006, Wilders has been the sole person to allocate positions, set the party’s direction and speak on behalf of the Party for Freedom (PVV). Over the years, he has delivered harsh rhetoric that has fueled the success of his far-right party, which made it the most popular in the Netherlands by 2023. He launched tirades against the Quran, which he likened to Mein Kampf; condemned “scum”; promised to “deal with” Moroccans; stoked fears of a “tsunami” of immigrants threatening to turn the country into “a province of the Islamic Super State Eurabia,” and so on.
The Dutch lawmaker’s party has been and remains a political anomaly; its autocratic structure has allowed it to avoid, for two decades, the internal rivalries and ego clashes that often plague – and sometimes destroy – extremist movements. On January 20, to the surprise of many – including Wilders, who called it “a black day” – seven of his group’s 26 lawmakers spoke out, then split away. Led by Gidi Markuszower, a long-standing and loyal ally of the populist leader, the defectors justified their departure by citing the lack of internal democracy and Wilders’ rare appearances during the October 2025 parliamentary campaign.
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