Right-wing Radical Populism in City and Suburbs: An Electoral Geography of the Partij Voor de Vrijheid in the Netherlands

Abstract

This paper looks at the electoral geography of the Partij Voor de Vrijheid, a Dutch right-wing radical populist party, which is anti-immigration, anti-establishment and critical of urban conditions. Combining survey analyses and geocoded polling station data analyses of the 2010 parliamentary elections, it is found that overrepresentation of support in suburban environments cannot be explained by voter composition alone. There is a positive contextual effect in lower-density neighbourhoods in cities and in suburban municipalities, as well as in post-war New Towns. To account for spatial variations, an explanatory framework is proposed based on urban theories of class, revanchism and nostalgia. Traditional middle classes, concentrated in suburbs, seem to support RRPPs to reclaim urban space for daily use and as a defensive strategy in view of metropolitan change.