Support for Geert Wilders’ far right Freedom Party has dropped by an equivalent of two seats in parliament, according to an opinion poll by Maurice de Hond’s peil.nl.
The poll comes after Mr Wilders announced he would be making a sequel to his controversial anti-Islam film Fitna.
The two notional seats have shifted to the largest party on the right, Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s VVD. Freedom Party voters appear to be less enthusiastic about Fitna than they are about Mr Wilders other political ideas and proposals, say the pollsters. The percentage of Freedom Party voters who say they would vote for the party again has dropped to 79 percent, the lowest level in the polls since 2006.
“Sick mind”
Mr Wilders would win 24 seats in the 150-seat parliament if an election were held now, according to the poll. In fact this is the number of seats his party now actually holds – in the polls his popularity had risen since the last election. Senior coalition partner the VVD would gain two seats, three more than it currently holds.
On 1 April Mr Wilders announced he would be making Fitna II in 2012, about “the barbaric life of the sick mind of Muhammad”.
Sixty-five percent of Freedom Party voters said they approved of the proposed Fitna sequel. However, the move only had the backing of 22 percent of those surveyed in total. Fifty-eight percent thought the new film would harm the Netherlands’ position internationally.
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So far this has cost Wilders nothing since he didn't have the seats he "lost" and an election, which is nowhere in sight, would have given him the same seats anyway. I doubt that these fluctuations in polling are going to have the least bit of influence on whether or not he makes the film.
A Qatari propaganda film about Mohammed, that "will educate people about the true meaning of Islam", was announced in 2009, but hasn't gotten off the ground so far. I guess that Islamic restrictions, such as the silly business of not depicting him would make it very tricky to make. It will be interesting to see how Wilders handles that.