Geert Wilders struggles towards power in the Netherlands

THE DUTCH election on November 22nd appeared straightforward: a win for the xenophobic right, with the anti-Muslim Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders in the lead. In his newspaper column last week, Ronald Plasterk, a former Labour minister who has turned right, said a government of the PVV and three less radical parties should be simple. It is not, as Mr Plasterk is discovering. The PVV picked him as the verkenner, who sounds out the parties, after its first choice quit over a corruption scandal. It turns out that forming a government including Mr Wilders, long shunned by other parties, is far from easy.