The Dutch Muslim Party (NMP) is to contest the local council elections in Venlo, the home town of anti-Islam PVV party leader Geert Wilders, reports the Telegraaf.

The decision to take part in the November 18 elections in Venlo was announced by the chairman and founder of the NMP, Henny Kreeft, on Monday, says the paper.

Four candidates – two with a Moroccan, one with a Turkish and one with a Pakistani background – will be on the NMP election list. The party hopes to win two seats, one from Labour and one from the green left GroenLinks party.

The fact that Wilders comes from Venlo is a coincidence, Kreeft tells the Telegraaf: ‘Venlo is very important for us’. The party wants to participate in nine local council elections next year. The vote in Venlo next month is the result of new council boundaries.

Kreeft says he expects to win four seats in Amsterdam and more than two in cities susch as Rotterdam, Alkmaar and The Hague.

Wilders' anti-immigration party PVV will field candidates only in Rotterdam and the Hague at next year's local elections. But his party emerged as the biggest in Venlo at the June European elections.