Party for Freedom

The Party for Freedom (Dutch: Partij voor de Vrijheid, [pɑrˈtɛi voːr də ˈvrɛiɦɛit]; PVV) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Since the early 2020s, the party has rapidly grown in popularity, gaining significant support for its anti-immigration positions. After the 2023 general elections, it became the largest party in the House of Representatives.

Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election making it the fifth-largest party in parliament. In the 2010 general election, it won 24 seats, making it the third-largest party. At that time the PVV agreed to support the minority government led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte without having PVV ministers in the cabinet. PVV withdrew its support in April 2012 due to differences over budget cuts. In the following 2012 Dutch general election, it won 15 seats, having lost nine seats in the elections, still being the third-largest party. Following the elections, the party returned to the opposition. Furthermore, in the 2017 election, the Party for Freedom won 20 seats, making it the second-largest party in Parliament. It came third in the 2014 European Parliament election, winning four out of 26 seats. Geert Wilders is the only member of Party for Freedom; thus the party is ineligible for Dutch government funding, and relies on donations.

The PVV calls for items like administrative detention and a strong assimilationist stance on the integration of immigrants into Dutch society, differing from the established centre-right parties in the Netherlands (like the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, VVD). The PVV has also proposed banning the Quran and shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands. In addition, the party is consistently Eurosceptic and since early July 2012, according to the platform it presented prior to the 2012 Dutch general election, it strongly advocates withdrawal from the European Union.