A political earthquake hit the Netherlands Wednesday in the wake of massive farmer’s protests as the upstart Farmer’s Movement party passed the ruling People’s Party in provincial elections. “Nobody can ignore us any longer,” said Farmer’s Movement leader Caroline van der Plas.
“The BBB or BoerBurgerBeweging (Farmer-Citizen Movement) party rode a wave of protests against the government’s environmental policies and looked set to have won more Senate seats than Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party”, Reuters reports. The BBB was strongest party in the Provincial Council elections in all Dutch provinces except urban Utrecht Province.
The Dutch Provincial Councils elect the Dutch Senate May 30, where the ruling RINO government already has no majority. Upstart BBB is now projected to win 15 Senate seats out of 75, passing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s People’s Party with projected 10 seats. The Green-Left coalition also won 15 seats, and could still conspire with the RINO government to force through a disastrous ban on Nitorgen fertilizer like the one that wrecked Sri Lanka’s economy last year.
“Nobody can ignore us any longer,” BBB leader Caroline van der Plas told broadcaster Radio 1, according to Reuters. “Voters have spoken out very clearly against this government’s policies.”