The Freedom Party
Despite its very vocal opposition to Islam, the Freedom Party in the Netherlands has made significant gains in recent elections. In addition to calling Islam a backward religion, the party has pushed for a ban on headscarves in public life, compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf and released a highly controversial anti-Islam film. Yet in 2010 local elections, the party won enough votes to become the second largest in the country's political capital, the Hague, and won the majority in Almere, a midsize city. Party leader Geert Wilders, above, has been barred from entry into the U.K. and has faced charges at home of fomenting hatred and discrimination, but a BBC report says such accusations have only served to increase his popularity with voters. Wilders hopes to extend his party's successes in the upcoming parliamentary elections on June 9.