Two more MPs leave Geert Wilders’ party

Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders is facing a mutiny just hours after his party programme for the upcoming general elections was made public. Parliament members Marcial Hernandez and Wim Kortenoeven have announced they will leave Wilders’ PVV immediately.
“I thought I had found my captain, but I was wrong. Geert deserted me,” Hernandez said at a press conference, referring to Wilders’ decision to break off budget talks with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his minority cabinet earlier this year. Until now, rumours that Wilders had failed to consult his fellow party members about the move could not be confirmed.
Voting fodder
The desertions by Hernandez and Kortenoeven appear to have been sparked off by the contents of the defense clause in the PVV party programme released this morning. The programme states that the Netherlands must cancel its plans to purchase the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), reduce its fleet of F-16s, and put Dutch economic interests first in general defence policy, reducing Dutch participation in peacekeeping missions by half.
“As a Freedom Party MP, you’re seen as voting fodder,” Hernandez said.
Speaking to the website nu.nl, Geert Wilders said the election programme was unanimously approved by the PVV bloc in parliament. But MP Marcial Hernandez said he and his fellow party members were given only half an hour to study a draft version two weeks ago.
Good-for-nothing
The other PVV deserter, Wim Kortenoeven, was clearly emotional during the press conference according to Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. He said “we were increasingly facing humiliation. Wilders had contempt for normal social behaviour and was inaccessible to members of his bloc in parliament.” Kortenoeven said this had become a widespread problem “except for those who are part of the politburo.”
“Wilders is a political good-for-nothing,” Kortenoeven added.
Open disagreement
The PVV party programme for elections this coming autumn also calls for the Netherlands to leave the European Union and stop paying any contributions to Brussels.
Earlier this year, PVV parliamentarian Hero Brinkman left the party in an open disagreement about the party’s direction. This was followed by more desertions from the party at provincial level in North Holland.
Speaking to NOS radio, Wilders called today’s announcements “sad.”