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In the end Geert Wilders did not come close.
With more than 95 per cent of the votes counted, the anti-Islam, anti-EU candidate claimed just 20 seats in the Dutch lower house, well short of centre-right candidate and prime minister Mark Rutte who won 33 seats.
The result will shock many who felt a sweeping tide of populism across Europe could see the Freedom Party's candidate go close to winning the popular vote. But when it comes to populist politics in Europe, each candidate, each country, each political system is different.
The Brexit result, the election of President Donald Trump and the rise of Marine Le Pen in France somehow did not make Mr Wilders's success inevitable. He faced challenges (some self-imposed, others not) that were unique to his situation.
Lead in the polls fails to translate to victory
From November onwards Mr Wilders led in most of the polls. Dutch voters who considered his policies to be too extreme were in no doubt that he posed a serious threat.
In the US election there were Hillary-haters on the left who stayed at home and did not vote because they thought Donald Trump could not win.
In the UK younger voters who were in favour of remaining in the EU were more likely to stay at home than older Brexiters who came out in force.
In the Dutch election about 80 per cent of citizens cast a vote. Some polling stations stayed open after normal closing times to deal with the queues.
A number of voters I spoke to were adamant they were motivated by a desire to make sure the Freedom Party's candidate did not win.
Dutch show they value tolerance
The Freedom Party candidate campaigned on an anti-EU, anti-Islam platform and said he was in favour of restoring Dutch values.
This resonated with about 13 per cent of voters, but it also offended many others who consider tolerance to be a key Dutch value.
The Netherlands has long been known as one of the most liberal nations in Europe. It has a long tradition of free trade, immigration and social liberalism.
While Geert Wilders's message would likely garner more votes in a country like Hungary, that was closed off to immigration in the communist years, and is not as socially liberal, it was a much harder task to push this message in the Netherlands.
Grievances not strong enough to sway voters
Populism feeds off a sense of grievance, and the Dutch simply don't have too much to complain about.
They haven't had to deal with the series of Islamist terrorist attacks that France, Germany and Belgium have faced in recent years.
They have not had long-term double-digit unemployment like Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France.
Their political class has not been emerged in the kind of culture of corruption and crony capitalism that has spawned the Five Star Movement in Italy.
In Mr Wilders's election manifesto he did not once mention jobs.
His platform was virtually all about national identity. If voters can feed their families, see their children have solid job prospects and not have to worry about the diminishing value of their pensions, they are less likely to vote for radical options.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, elections, netherlands