Dutch political leaders Wilders and Omtzigt cast their votes

(22 Nov 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Enschede - 22 November 2023
1. Various of NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt arriving to vote
2. Cutaway of camera
3. Omtzigt and wife Ayfer Koç post votes
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Pieter Omtzigt, NSC leader:
"Well, I think it's time for change in the Netherlands, and I feel there is a large momentum for change at the moment. So I hope that the Dutch voters will take that message. After years of scandals, in the current government. They have the choice of doing more of the same or taking new ways. And we have a proposal for a new way."
3. Cutaway of Omtzigt in interview
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Pieter Omtzigt, NSC leader:
"Well, my gut feeling is they (the Dutch voters) are not really to the center, to the right of the left. They want the problem solved. And the reason Geert Wilders is making a big comeback is that we've had 13 years of VVD government in which migration, the migration has gone up from 20-thousand to 220-thousand. So we've always been promised, well, we would at least get some grip on migration, not zero migration but we would get some grip on migration and that grip of migration never came. And I think that's playing in the cards for Wilders."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Hague - 22 November 2023
5. Various of PVV leader Geert Wilders voting in The Hague
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Geert Wilders, PVV leader:
"Why should they, why should he be afraid of the outcome of a democratic national election? I have the best intentions for the Dutch people in mind. This is all I aim for. It's all on my program. So it might not be what some of the parties in Europe or other countries to strive for but hey, that is democracy."
7. Cutaway
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Geert Wilders, PVV leader:
"I don't know what the outcome will be. Anything can happen because 50% of the people didn't know what to vote at the end of yesterday. So I'm positive. It looks all in the right direction. So let's hope that the outcome will be good for first, the Netherlands and second for my party."
9. Wilders leaving
STORYLINE:
Two of Netherlands' top election candidates Geert Wilders and Pieter Omtzigt voted on Wednesday.

One thing is certain for the Dutch voters casting ballots in the general election: Mark Rutte, the Netherlands' longest-serving prime minister, is on the way out.

“It’s time for change in the Netherlands, and I feel there is a large momentum for change at the moment,” said Pieter Omtzigt, whose brand-new party New Social Contract, is slated to finish among the top four in a tightly-contested race.

Polls showed four political parties, including the far-right Party for Freedom of firebrand Geert Wilders, were neck and neck going into Wednesday’s election.

Forming the next government will require weeks or months of coalition talks between parties.

A poll released Tuesday put Wilders' party very narrowly ahead of Rutte's liberal, pro-free trade People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and a centre-left bloc made up of the Labor Party and Green Left.

If the ruling party manages to clip Wilders’ wings, it would pave the way for Justice and Security Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius to become the first woman to occupy the prime minister’s office known as the Little Tower.

Yeşilgöz-Zegerius was elected leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, or VVD, after Rutte resigned.

Rutte's fourth and final coalition resigned in July after failing to agree on measures to rein in migration.
The party shot up in opinion polls ahead of the election.
AP video by Mark Carlson and Ahmad Seir
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