This is the city of “Henk and Ingrid.” These are the names of two fictional characters created by far-right leader Geert Wilders to personify an average Dutch couple – the people he has promised to defend against “the system,” “the elite,” “the left-wing clerics,” and, of course, foreigners. In Spijkenisse, a city of around 73,000 residents located in the suburbs of Rotterdam and the main entity in the newly merged municipality of Nissewaard, Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV, far-right) achieved a record result in the 2023 parliamentary elections with 38% of the vote. The PVV became the leading party in the Netherlands, winning 37 out of 150 seats in the Tweede Kamer (“Second Chamber,” the lower house of parliament), and subsequently formed a government. Their government has since proven to be a chaotic experiment: The coalition led by Prime Minister Dick Schoof collapsed in June after just 336 days in power following a crisis triggered by Wilders, who was frustrated with his three coalition partners’ refusal to endorse his platform. Among other measures, the platform included declaring a state of emergency to halt immigration, deporting 60,000 Syrian refugees and putting an end to all family reunification.

In Spijkenisse, a city that was long considered one of the poorest in the Netherlands but which now strives to attract middle-class residents who are moving away from downtown Rotterdam, a couple of retirees we met at the shopping center were not named Henk and Ingrid, but Nico and Caroline. They spoke while strolling between a nail salon, discount stores and a fast-food kebab restaurant. “Wilders wanted to defend ordinary people, but he did nothing, achieved nothing before bringing down the government!” said Nico. Did he vote for the PVV? Nico, a former Rotterdam port worker, would not say, but he asserted that Wilders would “for sure” not get his vote on October 29, the date when the country will hold new parliamentary elections. As for Caroline, she no longer intends to vote. “All that circus for nothing,” she said with a sigh. On the local level, Spijkenisse has always been politically dominated by a local group named Ons (“We”), which holds 10 of the 37 seats on the municipal council (compared to three for the PVV).

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