Muslims make a pitch for populist vote as Dutch politics turns sharp right

The system of proportional representation that first allowed Wilders to flourish makes it unlikely that he will become prime minister. He would need to rule in coalition, and Rutte's party, the closest ideologically, has already categorically ruled out a deal. Wilders says he feels the same; a previous venture into government together collapsed in bitter acrimony in 2012.

But the apparent adoption of his values by a party that may have courted Wilders' voters but previously rejected his positions, is worrying for the Netherlands, and dangerous for its minorities, Mudde says.

According to Ouali: "The last year or so, since the ‘refugee crisis', Rutte has taken a stronger position, in which he implies, but never literally says, that there are real Dutch (who seem to be white and non-Muslim) and temporary or conditional Dutch (who are non-white and Muslim).