Moderates: an Alternative to Populists?

Across ideological, social, and national lines, we’ve all seen how both  politics and society as a whole have become increasingly divided, how civil discussion has been disappearing and is replaced with insults, hate comments, and even physical violence. With examples across the world (particularly in the EU with the growth of the far right and in the United States, with its current state of political violence.) It is in this context of disunion and confrontation that people who are against such radicalization must not allow themselves to fall into the trap of the populist methods. In other words, fighting fire with fire. But this would only mark the ultimate victory of populism  because of the adoption of it by those who opposed it. 

The only way to stand against populist rhetoric is to act in the opposite direction, an anti-populist politics, which replaces extremism and confrontation with moderation and dialogue, where ideas aren’t an absolute truth, simply opposing or just different points of views. Populism may be strong enough to reach power, but like we’ve seen with cases like The Netherlands cabinet before the 2025 election, it lacks the ability for an efficient administration of government. This is what the “moderates” can offer to politics in these strange times: the knowledge of how to govern a nation and keep nations united despite times of polarization and hate. 

But moderation doesn’t mean ambiguity, nor does it mean flip-flopping between left, right, and center. Moderate means a firm stance, of keeping civility, and reaching out to the other side. An ideology not based on populism but rather on a conviction in liberal democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. 

A clear example of the kind of moderates needed in politics is the winner of the 2025 Dutch Election Rob Jetten, leader of the liberal D66 party. Jetten ran on a moderate, liberal and anti-populist campaign and managed to defeat the populist and far-right PVV, who had won the last Dutch general election. D66 placed between third or fourth place in the polls but were able to come out on top and win the election with 16.9%, followed by the PVV (16.7%), the liberal conservative VVD (14. 2), the center-left Green-Labour Alliance (12.8%), and the Christian democrat CDA (11.8%).

Rob Jetten speaking during the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai, December 10, 2023 Photo by COP28 / Christophe Viseux

If moderates want to win against populism, it shouldn’t be at the cost of their own values. Instead, we should make those values popular again by connecting with the everyday person – something populists, through their charisma and rhetoric, are adept at. Moderates should also unite to combat the rise of extremism, not just on the right but on the left, too. In the 2019 EU Election in the UK, the Liberal Democrats were successful at rallying the moderate vote in an effort (although the party came out second, with 20%), receiving votes from both the centre-right (moderate Tory Voters) as well as from the centre-left (moderate Labour voters). 

Another example is this year's presidential election in Portugal, where a center-left and a far-right candidate went to the runoff. The center-left candidate (Jose Antonio Seguro from the Socialist Party) has received the support not only from Portugal’s traditional left wing but also from centrists (Gouveia e Melo from PPM, who received 12%), liberals (Cotrim de Figueredo from IL, who obtained 16%) and conservatives (Marques Mendes from AD, who achieved 11%). This union of democratic parties (social democrats, centrists, liberals and conservatives) has proven successful at rallying against the far-right of Andre Ventura and his political movement, Chega. 

A very interesting project in the field of moderate politics, but on the center-right,  is the UK think-tank called “Prosper UK.”. This political organization was founded by veteran members of the Conservative Party, who believe both due to electoral tactics as well as a profound ideological principal, that the Conservatives should not move to the right to counter Nigel Farage’s far-right movement (Reform UK) but rather to the center in order to represent a fraction of the electorate that is homeless because of the Conservatives’ recent shift to the right and the rise of more extreme options like Reform UK and The Greens.

This also shows us how although it may seem like an uphill battle, there is a demand for common sense through  centrist options. Prosper UK has identified at least 7 million British voters who are moderates and politically homeless due to the political radicalization both to the left and to the right. These are voters who could vote for the Conservative Party if they go back to the center-right and center, instead of competing with Reform for more right-wing voters.  They could thus regain some strength after their defeat at the 2024 UK General Election at the hand of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.

Keir Starmer speaking at the 2020 Labour Party leadership election hustings Rwendland, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This is why I still have hope that we can achieve better politics, with leaders who see dialogue as a virtue and not as a defect. Moderate politics, in these times of extremism, can return once more. However, this can only happen if we don’t let populism win more space and if we show to citizens that there is an alternative option.