The big winner of the Dutch regional elections on March 20 was the far-right Forum voor Democratie (FvD). This was first time the FvD participated in these elections, which also decide the composition of the country’s senate. With almost 15 percent of the vote, it immediately became one of the biggest factions in the upper house, in a fresh step forward for the far right in the Netherlands.

Having emerged out of a campaign against the European Union’s trade association with Ukraine, the FvD became a political party only in 2016, winning two seats in parliament the following year. Since then, the FvD, and especially its leader Thierry Baudet, have been permanent fixtures in the media. Baudet and the FvD follow in the footsteps of the far right in the Netherlands, which shot to prominence at the turn of the millennium, under the leadership of Pim Fortuyn.

For the last few years, its main representative was Geert Wilders and his Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom, PVV), but he is now being overshadowed by Baudet. Although Wilders and his Islamophobic movement in many ways laid the groundwork for the success of the FvD, this new party is different — and more radical.