Anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders wins big in Dutch election

Geert Wilders (AP Photo/Mike Corder)

Anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders has said he is ready to join the next Dutch coalition government after he surged to a huge election victory that marked a stunning lurch to the far right for a nation once famed as a beacon of tolerance.

The result is sending shockwaves through Europe, where extremist nationalist ideology is putting pressure on democracies which face having to deal with the first far-right prime minister of the Netherlands.