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Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) won the most seats in Wednesday's parliamentary elections, with a clear lead after early vote counting.
Key points:
- Early vote counting shows Mr Rutte's centre-right VVD party on track to win at least 31 out of 150 seats
- Mr Wilders' anti-immigration Freedom Party looks to have secured just 19 seats
- The Euro has risen to its highest level since the 7th of February on the back of the vote
The unofficial partial vote count conducted by national news agency ANP showed the VVD on track to win 32 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, 13 more than Geert Wilders' anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) which was tied with two other parties at 19 seats apiece.
"It appears that the VVD will be the biggest party in the Netherlands for the third time in a row," a beaming Mr Rutte told supporters at a post-election party in the Hague.
"I am so proud at what has happened and happy that we have been given the trust again [by voters]," said Tamara van Ark, campaign leader of Mr Rutte's party.
With France and Germany facing elections in the months ahead, Mr Rutte had hoped to slow the momentum of what he called the "wrong sort of populism" after last year's British vote to leave the European Union and the election of US President Donald Trump.
"This is a chance for a big democracy like the Netherlands to make a point to stop this toppling over of the domino stones [of populism]," Mr Rutte said after voting.
Wilders concedes defeat
Mr Wilders congratulated Mr Rutte on his victory, promising to offer firm parliamentary opposition if he did not end up in the ruling coalition.
"I would rather have been the largest party," he told reporters outside his office in parliament.
"[But] we gained seats. That's a result to be proud of."
He said the influence his party had on Dutch politics was enormous and he did not understand Mr Rutte's comment that voters had said no to the "wrong kind of populists".
"I don't know what he means," he said.
"He is implying there are good and bad populists; I don't see myself as a populist, but he is suggesting I am a bad populist and some kind of Nazi."
Mr Wilders had insisted that whatever the result of Wednesday's election, the kind of populist politics he and others in Europe represent were not going away.
"Rutte has not seen the back of me!!" he said in a Twitter response to the exit poll results.
The Dutch went out in huge numbers to vote. At 81 per cent, it was the highest turnout in 30 years.
In the city of Nijmegen, polling stations had to order extra ballot papers and extend opening times to give people enough time to vote.
Actual results were expected by midnight local time (10:00am AEDT).
Germany congratulates Dutch voters
The head of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, Peter Altmaier congratulated the Netherlands on a "terrific" election result.
"Netherlands oh Netherlands you are a champion," he tweeted in Dutch.
"Congratulations on this terrific result."
In Germany's upcoming parliamentary elections in September, the anti-immigration, eurosceptic Alternative for Germany party, allied with Mr Wilders PVV party, is hoping to enter the Berlin federal parliament for the first time.
Election framed as choice between continuity or chaos
Ahead of the election, Mr Rutte had portrayed himself as a safe custodian of the nation's economic recovery and cast Mr Wilders as a far-right radical who was unprepared to make tough decisions.
The chance of Mr Wilders becoming prime minister in the Netherlands, where a proportional representation voting system all but guarantees coalition governments, was remote, even if his party had placed first in the election.
All mainstream parties, including the VVD, had ruled out working with Mr Wilders and his Party for Freedom.
The PVV leader's one-page election manifesto included pledges to close borders to immigrants from Muslim nations, shutter mosques and ban the Koran, as well as to take the Netherlands out of the European Union.
Mr Rutte has driven through unpopular austerity measures over the last four years, but the Dutch economic recovery has gathered pace and unemployment has fallen fast.
Mr Wilders, meanwhile, tapped into discontent among voters who say they are not benefiting from economic recovery.
Greens make historic gains as Dutch Labour Party punished
An exit poll showed Jesse Klaver had led his Green Left party to a historic victory, turning it into the largest party on the left wing of Dutch politics for the first time.
According to the Ipsos exit poll, the Greens leapt from four seats to 16 in the parliament after a strong campaign by its charismatic leader, who has been dubbed by some as the Dutch Justin Trudeau.
"This is a fantastic result for us, a historic victory," Green Left chairwoman Marjolein Meijer said.
She said the result shows there is "very fertile ground in the Netherlands for change and a positive and hopeful story".
It remained to be seen if the 30-year-old would take his party into the next ruling coalition, which looked likely to be dominated by the VVD and other right-leaning parties.
Meanwhile, the Dutch Labor Party of Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem appeared to have been punished by voters in the election, plunging from 38 seats at the last election to just nine, according to the Ipsos exit poll.
Because of the result, it looked unlikely Mr Dijsselbloem would be able to hang on to his post of leading the 19-nation Eurogroup, which manages the currency of the European Union nations that use the euro.
Reuters/AP
Topics: elections, world-politics, government-and-politics, netherlands
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