美国国家公共电台 NPR Exit Polls Suggest Dutch Rejection Of Nationalist Candidate Wilders

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

In the Netherlands, the polls have closed on an election that's being watched around much of the Western world. Nearly all of the attention has been on the anti-immigrant candidate Geert Wilders. Wilders was linked to the populist momentum¹ that began with Britain's vote to leave the European Union and continued with President Trump²'s election.

The official results may not be known until early morning. But exit polls are out. So let's get the latest news from NPR's Frank Langfitt, who's in The Hague. And Frank, what are you seeing so far in those exit polls?

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE³: Well, it's pretty striking, Audie. The Prime Minister Mark Rutte's VVD Party looks like it will easily win, projected to get 31 seats in a Parliament of about 150 seats. The big story though really for the rest of the world outside the Netherlands is that Wilder's Party for Freedom is in a distant three-way tie for second place with 19 votes with the Christian⁴ Democrats⁵ and the D66 Party. That's a liberal party. And given all the attention that Geert Wilders has received, this is a big defeat.

CORNISH: Assuming these results actually hold when all the votes are counted, why do you think that Wilders' party didn't perform better?

LANGFITT: Really his rhetoric⁶ I think for so many people here in the Netherlands was just too extreme. He was anti-Islam, anti-immigration. And as I traveled across the country - I really spent the last week traveling all over - and even his hardcore supporters would say, you know, we like his ideas, but we wish he wouldn't be so blunt in the things that he would say. Like, he would say we should get rid of Moroccans, said Islam is not a religion but an ideology⁷ incompatible⁸ with freedom. And even people who agreed with him winced⁹ about this sort of stuff.

And what we're talking about is not the dog whistle politics that we talked about some times in places like United States or in Great Britain, but really he was being very direct that he didn't like certain groups and would like to see at least some members of those groups leave. I think that if these poll numbers show, I mean, these exit polls hold, it's going to kind of show that the Netherlands is still a pretty tolerant and open society, which is what it's traditionally been and what a lot of people in the Netherlands would like it to continue to be.

CORNISH: So help us understand what the next ruling coalition¹⁰ might look like in the Netherlands and whether Wilders would be a part of it at all.

LANGFITT: Well, you know, Rutte, this is a big win. He did lose some seats. But he still came out way ahead. And he'll form a coalition 'cause it's such - there's - 28 parties ran. This is so, so different from the American system. He's going to have to get a bunch of other parties to work with him. But at this point because Wilders didn't do that well, he can probably ignore Wilders.

Had Wilders won and done quite well, that was going to put a lot of pressure on Rutte to work with him in some way - Wilders wouldn't have been the prime minister - but also continue to kind of lean to the right to respond to the voters. But he's probably not going to have to do that now.

CORNISH: One quick question. Over the past few days, there was a diplomatic row between Turkey and the Netherlands. Do we know if that affected¹¹ the vote at all?

LANGFITT: Well, I think Wilders was already falling in the polls before then. But what happened is Rutte was seen as being really strong against the Turkish government. The Turkish government had wanted to come here and rally its own citizens - Dutch citizens but also they're dual¹² citizens with Turkey - for referendum back in Turkey coming up I guess in April. And the Netherlands was uncomfortable with this. And they said, we don't want you to come because of security reasons.

And then a government official came anyway. And they expelled the person. And I think that that showed Rutte being tough, especially on borders, and also showing that, you know, the Netherlands makes the decisions about how its country's going to be run, which was a big message that Wilders had for his voters. So I think it put Rutte in a pretty good position.

CORNISH: Now, given that there are other populist parties running next month and France and later in the year in Germany, people were really watching this election in the Netherlands, right? But what do you think is the broader kind of political message coming out of the country right now?

LANGFITT: Well, again, if we wake up and these numbers pretty much match the exit polls, I think the answer's going to be there are limits to how far people will go in embracing populism. And here in the Netherlands, that limit is Wilders. So many people I talked to today at the polls were worried that he was going to do very well.

Had he won a decisive victory, I think Marine¹³ Le Pen of the National Front in France would pointed¹⁴ to him and said, you know, he's momentum. It's - we've had Brexit, Trump, Wilders, and now it's going to be me. And now, she doesn't have that to cite to her voters in France. And that just doesn't give her quite the same oomph that she might have going into the first round of voting in France beginning next month.

CORNISH: That's NPR's Frank Langfitt. Frank, thanks so much.

LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Audie.

1 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

7 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

8 incompatible   

adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的

参考例句：

• His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
• Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。

9 winced   

赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He winced as the dog nipped his ankle. 狗咬了他的脚腕子，疼得他龇牙咧嘴。
• He winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg. 他左腿一阵剧痛疼得他直龇牙咧嘴。

10 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

13 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

14 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。