Wilders ready to ditch Dutch premier's job to push forward coalition

Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders says he is ready to forego the job of prime minister after months of haggling with potential coalition partners to form a government.

"I can only become prime minister if ALL parties in the coalition support it. That was not the case," he acknowledged on X, formerly Twitter.

"The love for my country and voters is great and more important than my own position."

Wilders, who campaigned on an anti-migration and anti-Islam platform, said he wants to achieve less immigration and less asylum in the Netherlands with a new right-wing government. He is resigning from office in order to achieve this goal, he said.

Wilders Party for Freedom won the parliamentary elections in November with 37 of the 150 seats. Talks to form a right-wing government with three other parties began days after his shock victory, but the negotiations have been in disarray since January.

Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte's conservative People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the centre-right New Social Contract (NSC) party both refused to enter into a coalition led by him.

In recent days, however, the party leaders had agreed to resume negotiations on forming a coalition. Details of this agreement are not expected to be announced until Thursday.