As traditional left and centre-left parties suffer across Europe in countries including Italy, France and Britain, the Dutch GreenLeft, formed 25 years ago by a merger of communists, pacifists, evangelicals and radicals, is growing fast. The far-right populism of Geert Wilders, rather than Muslim immigration, is the real threat to Dutch culture and traditions, he has repeatedly said. Properly leftwing parties in Europe had to fight the rise of the far right by standing up for their ideals, he said on Wednesday. Besides Amsterdam, GreenLeft also performed well in university cities such as Groningen, Utrecht and Nijmegen. But he said the party had also won sympathy from more traditional leftwing voters in a city that was a PvdA stronghold for two generations.

Source: The Guardian March 16, 2017 15:44 UTC