How to beat the hard right, Netherlands edition.

  The Economist3 November 2025
In the previous election in 2023 the PVV finished first in a landslide, but the ensuing government, in which it was the biggest party, was a dysfunctional mess.

D66 is the PVV’s polar opposite: a pro-European, technocratic party supported mainly by highly-educated urbanites.

It turns out that beating the hard right is not so simple; but smiling helps.